


With Friends Like These

by TozaBoma



Category: Green Hornet (2011)
Genre: 2020 can piss right off, Case Fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I just want a happy ending, Women Are Awesome, back story, bowling, friends will be friends, just because my English is bad doesn't mean I'm a dumbass, sometimes the one person who pisses you off is your best friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 95,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27575458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TozaBoma/pseuds/TozaBoma
Summary: Dealing with the aftermath of the movie, new drug dealers, trust issues, new District Attorneys, undercover work, phobias and weaknesses, dating co-workers, how to be friends; it would all be so much easier if Britt and Kato could just get along. Even oil and water can mix temporarily, right? Rated teen and up for injuries, naughty language, fights, and the odd semi-nude scene (although I am not responsible for what you see in your head).
Relationships: Kato & Britt Reid & Lenore Case, Kato/OC
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First off; big fan of the original 1966 series but also of the 2011 movie. Difference I liked: the TV series never fleshed out Kato - all we know is his name and that he was played by Bruce Lee, whereas the movie gave him a back story. Also, sadly for all of you, I’ve been a huge Bruce Lee fan since I was about 12 and an equally huge Jay Chou fan since I discovered his albums in 2002 (a few years late to the party, I know), so this fic is very Kato-centric. I make no apologies.  
> Second; unless you live in a 10 bazillion dollar mansion you’ve probably had a pretty bad 2020, and I’m sorry but I’m not sorry that I wanted a fic where people learn to get along and everything works out in the end. I just hope readers can get a break from the global shitshow, and if this work raises just one smile for one person then it was worth it.

He stepped back from the lift doors, waving a woman in first. She nodded her thanks and he nodded back, pretending he wasn’t a biscuit away from losing his temper.

The brunette pressed a button for her floor then turned and smiled at him. “Which floor?”

“Uh…” Yanked unceremoniously from his little cloud of rage, he forced his brain to switch gears. “Oh - top, please.”

“Of course. You’re Mr Reid’s Executive Associate, aren’t you?” she said, pressing the button.

“Yes.”

“Mr…?”

“Kato.”

“Ah. We didn’t see you round the Sentinel much until the big rebuild - everyone’s talking. Sorry - it’s what offices do,” she smiled, curling long, bouncy hair round her ear.

“Uh…”

“So did he bring you in from New York? He must have head-hunted you.”

“Head-hunted?”

“From New York, right? From one of the big papers there?”

“Not New York. —Shanghai.”

“Oh! Lovely,” she smiled. “You must tell me all about it sometime. I’m Amy - I work with the journalists, doing fact checking.” She thrust her hand out at him.

He blinked. Twice. Then he pulled his hand from his pocket and shook hers carefully. “Nice to meet you.”

She smiled shyly, her dark eyes on the floor as she let her hand drop. The elevator pinged. “This is me,” she said. The doors opened. “Bye,” she said, giving a cheerful little wave.

“Uh…”

The doors closed and the lift continued up.

Kato stared at his bewildered reflection in the elevator doors. His left hand, still wrapped around his phone in his trouser pocket, twitched with the knowledge that big things were afoot, and abruptly he remembered why he was in the lift in the first place. He cleared his throat, pulled the knot in his thin black tie straight, and re-adjusted his face to that of someone with whom you should not mess.

The lift stopped. The doors opened. He strode out and made his way through the busy newspaper floor. Heads popped up from cubicles and around water machines, watching as he ploughed his way through to the door to the Editor’s Office.

He didn’t even knock. He swung the door open and marched in.

And then stopped dead.

“So get me the woman who—.” Mike Axford paused, in the middle of three people crowding his desk. “Now who’s just barging in like they own the place? This is a private meeting,” he snapped. He waved at them to part like the Red Sea, and they duly did, allowing him to peer through.

Kato took a breath. No words came to mind - in English.

“Ah, Mr Kato,” Mike said, relaxing back into his chair. “Didn’t expect you to need me to be honest. Can this wait an hour?”

“Oh - uh. Sorry,” he managed. “I’m looking for… Where is Britt?”

Mike resisted the urge to smile. “What’s he done now?”

“Is he here somewhere? Hiding under the desk?”

Mike wagged a finger at him. “You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot when you first turned up. But I think I’m growing to like you.” He stood to wave an arm out, pointing. “Britt has taken a much smaller office - back up, turn left, and go all the way to the end of the floor. It’s _was_ a spare janitor’s closet at the end. He put his name on it.”

“In crayon?” Kato replied tartly.

Mike grinned. “Yeah, I think I’m growing to like you.”

Kato nodded his thanks and backed up. He shut the door and looked at it for a long moment. Then he turned to his left and followed the directions, finding a simple wooden entrance at the end. He put a hand up and knocked.

A voice called from within. “Yeah.”

He opened it up to find a room, fifteen feet by fifteen. A refrigerator was standing by itself in the furthest corner from the door, an assortment of candy and colas perched on top as if proud they weren’t paying rent. As he stepped in he realised there was no window or in fact ventilation of any kind, just a single strip-light in the ceiling bathing everything in shockingly bright white radiance. A set of slim filing cabinets was down the wall on his left hand side, assorted newspapers and open bags of candy lounging on top with lethargic abandon. The cabinets stopped to give way to a desk, whereupon some kind of heavy duty electrical cable came down from the ceiling, providing a large bank of power points on the end of the cabinet.

Kato’s eyes ran down the black power cord from the jerry-rigged power supply and found a single desk hosting a laptop - and Britt Reid.

He was sat behind the wooden affair, his hands paused over the keyboard of the computer. “Hey! My man! What are you doing here during the day?” he grinned.

Kato’s heel went out behind him and slammed the door shut. “I’m _still_ not your man.”

“No it’s like a term of—.” Britt paused, his face turning to one of confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Kato stalked up to the small desk. He brought his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and let his thumb whizz through screens. He found what he wanted and raised it to Britt’s face - a little too closely.

Britt jerked his head back a few inches, then squinted to work out what he was looking at. “I can’t read that - it’s in Chinese or something. What is it, like a bank account? Do they have those in China?”

“The dollars are in American, dumbass.”

Britt frowned. “What are you mad about?”

“What is this? A pay-off?”

“What? Dude - that’s your _salary_.”

“Take it back.”

“What?”

“Take it back!” Kato warned, letting the phone drop. “I don’t need dirty money and I don’t need your charity.”

“Dirty? Charity? What are you talking about?” Britt spluttered.

“This is more than two month’s salary from your father!”

“And you don’t work for him any more, remember?” Britt cried in complete bafflement. “Look—.” He lowered his volume deliberately, casting a conspiratorial glance at the door. “You’re my Executive Assistant, right? Well that’s an executive assistant’s salary. Chill, bro - it’s all above board.”

Kato leant a hand on the desk to glare at him from two feet away. “But I don’t do an Executive Assistant’s job!”

“I know that and you know that - but everyone out there _can’t_ know that,” Britt hissed. “You can only have access to the building if you’re an employee or a signed-in visitor, dude!”

Kato pushed himself upright, folding his arms somewhat petulantly. “Why do I have to be an employee?”

“Because it puts you on the payroll here at the Sentinel - it’s your cover story. You get to waltz in here with or without me any time you like, _and_ have access to people and stuff here. And hey, you get health insurance and everything - even dental. It’s all legal.” He paused. “Wait - you _do_ have like a green card or something, right? Or did you jump a fence to get into America?”

Kato’s chin stuck out in abject indignation. “ _Dick_.” He turned to go.

“Wait - bro - I’m totally kidding,” Britt grinned, waving his hands out. Kato looked back at him but his eyes were still on the furious side of dark. “Come on, man - I got your back with this,” Britt urged. “This way you have a cover story - you pretend that you have a real job here and therefore you get real money for, what, the first time in your life? I can’t swan around in fancy cars and that massive mansion when I know you live in that one-room apartment that’s got a leaky icebox.”

“It doesn’t leak.”

“It leaks, dude. I don’t know a lot about like electrical stuff but I’m pretty sure water isn’t supposed to come out the bottom of your refrigerator and leave a swimming pool on the floor.” He sat back. “I just… It wasn’t fair. I know it’s taken months and I’m sorry, but… And you need something to live on while you’re being the masked partner, right?”

Kato walking away slowly, across the small room to the door. “I guess.”

Britt watched him digest the conversation, then shook his head. “Are you going to apologise for storming in here and accusing me of treating you like a charity case now?”

“Fine.” He turned and pointed at him. “But you should have told me.”

“And you’re welcome,” Britt said deliberately.

“Why are you in this tiny room anyway? You don’t want your father’s office, now the rebuild is done and it’s all open again?”

“Nah - Mike can have it. He does all the work anyway. I just kinda bum around and look over people’s shoulders, make it look like I do something for my stipend from Dad’s estate.”

“What do you need a laptop for?” he asked quietly.

Britt grinned, realising his anger had lost its head. “Checking out the new DA.”

“What new DA?”

“Well Scanlon was the victim of a sick vertical hit-and-run like six months ago, right?” he grinned. “They had to get someone else in to do the job.”

“Who?”

“A _lady_ ,” Britt said, waggling his eyebrows. Kato rolled his eyes, but came back over to stand behind his chair. He folded his arms, looking over Britt’s left shoulder. “Took them ages to fight it out and put someone in permanently. Look - she’s super tough on crime and she was everyone’s vote for the replacement.”

“Park Ji-Yeon… Jennifer,” Kato mused, reading the headline on the screen. “Was a val—. What’s that word?”

“A valedictorian. Some college thing - means you’re smart.” He paused. “But hey - another Chinese person.”

“She’s Korean.”

“How do you know that?”

Kato looked at him - just looked.

“But she’s Asian too right - do you know her?” Britt asked earnestly.

Kato sighed, weariness running through every fibre of his being. “Yes - all Asian people know all other Asian people - we have special Asian telepathy. We have a secret club and we don’t let white Americans in.”

Britt gasped. “Really? Whoa - _cool!_ So you know Mr Sulu?”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“You don’t—?” Britt shook his head. “We have got to get you a real entertainment centre in your apartment and then educate you on some American classics.”

“What’s that?” Kato asked, his hand going out and gesturing to the web browser and presumably the extra tab open behind the news story.

Britt grinned with pride, this time. “It’s our next case.” He selected the tab and then turned the laptop screen at an angle for Kato to see.

“I thought Lenore was in charge of cases.” His eyes ran over the news story of a failed drugs bust by local police.

“Hey I can do them too, you know.”

“Yeah but—.” He bit the side of his lip.

“But what?”

Kato sniffed casually. “But… Lenore gives us all the notes and all the background. When you do it, you just… draw pictures.”

“I resent that remark,” Britt pouted. “I got us a good case last time.”

“You literally gave me an address. I called Lenore and _she_ told us all the details.”

“Because that’s how we roll!” Britt gushed with a grin. “Look, you go back and do… whatever it is you do. I’ll call you when _Lenore_ has looked this over and done the whole treatment for us, right?”

“Ok.” He went back to the door, putting his hand out for the handle. He paused. “Britt.”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry.”

Britt shrugged, leaning back in his wooden chair and putting his hands behind his head. “No sweat, dude. Just… have a little faith, ok? I’m not a complete shmuck _all_ the time.”

“I don’t know what is a shmuck.”

“It’s me when you think I’m being an ass.”

“Oh.”

“You know, one day I’ll teach you how to _properly_ do American cursing. And then pick-up lines.”

“I already know how to pick up lines. I got two new brake lines for one of the Beauties last week.”

Britt laughed out loud. “Oh Kato - you are a rare dude.”

“I’ll be in the garage.”

“Right on.”

ooOoo

Lenore put her elbows on the dinner table, using the hands to massage her temples. The laptop screen in front of her face cowered before her disapproval. “I swear Britt, I thought you could spell,” she sighed, reading the email again carefully. “But it does look like a case.” She got up and went to her bookshelf, looking through the spines until she pulled out an old and battered textbook. She leafed through, finding a Post-It note marking a page and smiled, going back to the table.

The doorbell rang and she put down the book and closed the laptop smartly, going through the house and looking through the peephole. She spied a familiar head and smiled, opening the door up. “Hey, Kato.”

“Hi,” he said, giving a little wave. “I was going past and I remembered I have to give you your sheets.”

“Great,” she beamed. “You want to come in?”

“Ok,” he shrugged. She moved back to give him room, and he walked in slowly, adjusting a large leather messenger bag over his shoulder. He pulled off his motorbike helmet, catching sight of the laptop on the far dining table. “This is your office now?”

“Yeah,” she said, closing the door. “From last week they had no full-time resources for me at the Sentinel, what with the rebuild and everything. Now I work from home permanently - I’m still Britt’s PA.”

“Cool,” he nodded. He opened up the messenger bag, pulling out a plastic document sleeve with a paper A4 booklet inside. “Sorry it’s a bit… used.”

She took it from him and smiled. “Oh that’s fine. Can I have a go at this first and then do you want to come by and teach me?”

“Ok,” he nodded. “Just send me a message.”

“Gotcha,” she said. He turned back for the front door and she followed, opening it up for him. He stepped out and she watched him pop his helmet back on. “Oh hey - the work party on Friday. What time are you getting there?”

“A work party?” he asked, surprised. “What work party?”

“Britt’s holding a party for the employees - a kind of thank you after we had to rebuild the place. I think he wanted to welcome the new people who’ve joined too,” she said. “He’s had me emailing new starters and getting numbers all week - he’s invited some people from the city to help publicise the rebuild - and the new DA is on the list, too. He didn’t tell you?”

“He doesn’t tell me anything,” Kato grumped. “If I don’t speak to you I don’t know anything at all.”

“Well I want you to go,” she said, clearly unhappy. “You could do with a night off from - you know, working nights.”

“Then I guess I’ll go,” he shrugged. “Is it special? Like formal?”

She looked him up and down. “You want me to tell you what to wear?”

“America has… interesting fashion.”

She grinned. “I’ll email you. Are you bringing anyone?”

“Uh - what?”

“You know, a date?”

He glanced at his boots. “I don’t have a date.”

“Well if you get one let me know so I can change the number of guests.”

“Sure.” He waved. “See you.”

“Drive safe,” she smiled. “Oh - you want anything from the office? I have to drop some things round tonight.”

“I’m ok. Thank you.”

He turned away from the door, going down the path. He grumped something to himself, under his breath. Reaching his bike at the end of the path he got on, thinking it through before shaking his head. He started up the bike and roared away.

ooOoo

The office of heads looked up as Lenore emerged from Britt’s tiny new office. She walked through, waving and saying hello to people on her way to the elevators. She waited and eventually one trundled up, ready. The doors opened and people left, and then she made her way in and pressed for the parking floor.

It swished down but stopped after just a few floors, the doors opening to reveal another open-plan office. Lenore noticed the words ‘ _Support and Admin_ ’ on the hanging sign over the first pod of desks. Two men and a woman got into the elevator. She smiled at them all and they turned and stood ready to leave as it whooshed down again.

“So are you asking her to go with you, Sean?” one man asked.

Sean shrugged. “Might do. Do you think she’ll say yes? I mean it’s a work party and all.”

“She’ll say yes,” the first man smiled. He looked at the brunette by his side. “Who are you taking?”

“Seriously?” Sean said. “She’s got a thing for that new EA on the top floor.”

“I have _not_ ,” the woman said defensively.

“Oh yeah?” Sean grinned. “Get this, Doug - she was telling Linda all about him at the coffee machine this morning. His ‘adorable eyes’ and it’s ‘the way he stands’ - ‘he’s come to us from Shanghai’.”

She batted at his arm. “Shut up.”

“I think it’s the suit,” Doug said. “I mean not for nothing, but he _can_ wear a suit. Better than Daniel Craig.”

“True - he _does_ look good in a suit - I wish _I_ looked that good in a suit,” Sean nodded ruefully. He looked at her. “Why don’t you ask him to go with you?”

“Don’t be stupid,” she said. “He’s been all around the world, he must have done loads of exciting things. He’s not going to want to go with someone average like me.”

“Amy, how do you _know_ unless you _ask_ him?” Doug sighed.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. “Just don’t go spreading gossip about me,” Amy said, as the three of them left Lenore standing by herself against the inner wall.

She began to grin as the lift made its way down.

ooOoo

The Black Beauty crept out of the garage and down the secret laneway, going through the hidden gate and fake cars to appear on the street as if nothing untoward were happening.

Kato squeezed the steering wheel, looking in the rear view mirror at Britt. “Well?”

“What?”

“Did you bring Lenore’s plan? Where are we going?”

“Oh yeah. Hang on.” He pulled a fold-over plastic wallet out of the webbing on the back of the driver’s seat, opening it up. “So we don’t have any pictures or anything but this person is like a drugs dude. Since Danny Clear and Chudnofsky were taken out he’s tried to pick up the pieces.”

“I thought we got that guy last month,” Kato said.

“Nah that was the forensic accountant for Chudnofsky’s operation,” Britt said. “You know - the money guy.”

“Then where are we going?”

“Head for South Central. Lenore says there’s like a ninety percent chance his baggers will be taking scores back to him, and we can track one down and follow him to their headquarters.”

“She doesn’t know where it is?”

“She can’t do _everything_ , dude.”

“I mean if she doesn’t know then no-one knows. And if _no-one_ knows then maybe this is a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Because if no-one knows, then they must be professional - and bigger than we think.”

“Or…” Britt said slowly, “…he’s just a small-time hustler and his operation is so tiny that he’s not even set up properly yet.”

“When we find him and he has a private army, I will say I told you so.”

“And if that happens you’ll be right to,” Britt nodded. “But _I’m_ telling you, this guy’s going to be small fry.”

“What’s the plan to get into the gang?”

“I don’t know.”

“What did _Lenore say to do?_ ”

“Oh. Wait.” He paged through some of the papers quickly. “Uh… we offer to help with distribution for a cut… We don’t take less than fifteen percent or we’ll look like amateurs… Then when we know who’s really in charge we expose the drug-making location and leave them for the police to arrest.” He flipped the papers shut. “Easy, right?”

Kato said nothing. He looked out of his side window, then checked traffic and took a turn down a side street. “We cut through here - get ready. We’re nearly in South Central.”

“Got it. I’ve got binoculars and everything - we need to spot a bagman.”

“What is a bagman?”

“Like a… salesman. Sells baggies.” He paused to peer out of the darkened windows. “Find us a good spot to park up and watch.”

“Ok.”

The Black Beauty sailed round in a graceful arc, closing on a kerb just before an intersection and gliding to a halt. The engine stopped and the lights went out. Britt scooted across the large back seat to get to the window, watching carefully. Kato slid down in his seat, folding his arms and getting comfortable. His head angled toward the side window and he watched the various pavements carefully even as he slid down a little more.

“Dude, don’t go to sleep,” Britt said quietly.

“I am not going to sleep.” He paused, wetting his lips and taking a decisive sniff. “I’m… thinking about who to take to the work party.”

“Oh cool,” Britt said, off-hand.

“You know, the work party you didn’t invite me to.”

“What?” he scoffed. “Yes I did.”

“No you didn’t,” Kato said. “And I know why.”

“Well if I didn’t invite you then how did you know there is one?”

“Lenore told me. She wanted to make sure she had the right numbers.”

“I’m sure I sent you an invite.”

“We work in the same car nearly every night - I’m always in your garage - and you didn’t even mention it,” he tutted. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I know why you didn’t invite me and I don’t care.”

“Look, even if I forgot to invite you because it’s automatic that we do all the work stuff together _anyway_ , what possible reason could I have for not _wanting_ to invite you?”

“You don’t want me there.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Britt spluttered.

“You don’t want me there because you invited the new DA - and you want to hit on her.”

“Whaaat?” he blustered. “That’s rude, Kato. You take that back.”

“Ok, I take it back,” he said simply.

“Thank you!”

“I mean you want to hit on her without me around.”

“Hey! She’s a professional broad and a real smart one, too. And why wouldn’t I want you there, wingman?”

“I’m not your wingman. You’re never _my_ wingman. We just compete for women like animals in a jungle,” Kato tutted. “I don’t care about the DA, anyway. It would be nice to go to a work party and meet some people who work at the newspaper. The only person I know there is Lenore.”

“And me.”

“Obviously.”

“What about _your_ friends outside of work?” Britt shot back. “You never invite me when you have your nights out with your friends. You never introduce me to them.”

“You want to go to Mahjong night with three people you don’t know?”

“Sure,” he said happily. “I’m always ready to try a new beer. What is it, craft stuff? Speciality? Imported from Japan?”

Kato rolled his eyes. “Just watch for the bagman.”

Britt sat back, picking up his binoculars and scanning the street a few times. “So you _are_ going to the party?”

“Bagman.”

“I’m looking. —But if you’re going and you need like a temporary date person, tell me. I’ve got tonnes of lady friends - I could find you someone to go with.”

“ _Bagman_.” Kato huffed. “And I don’t need you to find me a date. I can find my own date.”

“So you’re saying you _do_ need a date?”

“Maybe I have one.”

“Oh yeah? Who?”

“You don’t know her.” He pulled his phone from his pocket silently, making sure Britt was staring out of the window. He unlocked the phone and found Lenore’s number. He tapped on the message icon and started typing with the top seam of the thumb of his glove, suddenly glad he had upgraded them to touch-friendly pads.

“I don’t know her because she doesn’t exist. You’re making it up,” Britt scoffed.

“Bagman.”

“Alright! I’m looking!” Britt grinned. “—But also you don’t have a date.”

Kato pressed send. He slipped the phone back in his pocket. Something on the far pavement caught his eye. “Bagman.”

Britt chuckled. “See? You don’t have a date.”

“ _Bagman_.”

“Yeah, and I’m looking but—”

“No, _there_ ,” Kato snapped, pointing toward the front passenger window. “Bagman!”

Britt turned from where he was staring down the wrong end of the street. “Shit,” he gasped, dropping the binoculars. “What do we do?”

Kato opened his driver’s door and disappeared into the night.

“Damn it,” Britt cursed. He shoved himself across the seat and opened the rear door, crouching behind the car to close it quietly.

Kato was already stealing across the street, some way downwind of a man in a baseball jacket, currently chatting to someone in the shadows of a building doorway. The person nodded and walked away, pushing something small in their pocket.

Britt looked left and right; the road was empty of traffic - and other people. He searched for Kato but couldn’t find him. He ran across the road; once he was on the same side as the man he made himself take a breath and relax. He walked toward him, pulling his hat down a little and then adjusting his mask. He stopped by him to straighten up and hope that he looked casual.

“Nice evening,” he said in a big voice.

The man looked him up and down. “I ain’t a hooker.”

“What? No, I—.” Britt huffed. “What you selling tonight?”

“What’s with the mask, dude?”

He grabbed his t-shirt and twisted, lifting his left fist ready to attack. “The Green Hornet asked you a question.”

“The what? Oh shit!” the man cried. He struggled and twisted; Britt was forced to let go. The man turned and sprinted off down the street.

“Oh _man_ ,” Britt heaved. He took off after him.

And then something black shot out from the wall. It clothes-lined the man across the throat. He splatted back into the pavement and lay there, moaning.

Kato stepped out from a doorway, pulling his uniform coat straight. “Let’s get him in the car.”

“I was just going to say that,” Britt said quickly.

They grabbed the man under the arms. Britt hefted him up and got one of his arms over his shoulder, supporting him as he walked him across the street. Kato hurried around in front, opening the back door for him.

Britt threw him in, squashing him up and then closing the door. As Kato got in the front seat Britt ran round the other side of the car and slid in. “Let’s roll.”

The Black Beauty purred into life and pulled away from the kerb smoothly, taking a leisurely glide down the street and turning down another, darker side street.

“Hey,” Britt said, slapping the man gently in the face. “Hey. Come on. Who do you work for?”

“Get off me,” the man muttered, forcing himself upright and clutching at his throat. “You’re in trouble now,” he coughed, massaging his injured windpipe.

“Why?” Britt demanded.

“When the boss finds out about this you’re dead.”

“If you don’t take us to your boss then _you’re_ dead,” Britt countered.

“Yeah right.”

Britt grabbed his t-shirt again, pressing him into the back seat. “Take us to your boss.”

“Or what?” the man sneered.

Kato yanked on the wheel, pulling the car over to a hasty stop. He turned in the seat to look at the man. “Or I drag you out of this car and I kick your ass.”

The man swallowed - painfully. He looked at Britt, then back at Kato. He put his hands up slowly. “Look - I don’t want to get hurt again, ok? But the boss - the boss will _kill_ me if I take you in.”

“It’s ok, dude,” Britt said, letting go of his t-shirt. “We just want to talk to him, ok?”

“Him?”

“Yeah - We just want to make a deal.”

The man eyed him. “Yeah right. You killed the DA - everyone knows you just don’t give a shit,” he said. “We know who you are. _The boss_ knows who you are. You get in there you’ll be dead on sight.”

“That’s because the boss hasn’t heard my distribution offer,” Britt said.

The man paused. “Your what?”

“We can help with distribution,” Kato said. “But we need to talk to the boss.”

“S-seriously?” he stuttered. “You want in?”

“That’s for bosses to decide,” Britt said in his best, biggest voice.

The man looked from one of them to the other. “Uh… right.”

Kato turned back in the seat and checked the streets before putting it into gear. “Where to?”

The man swallowed, looking at the back of his head, then up at Britt.

Kato turned and leant his elbow over the seat. He _glared_. “Where _to?_ ”

“Head - head on up here - then take a left. I’ll take you in.”

Britt pushed him back in the seat, patting at his shoulder. “There, see? No need for any unpleasantness.”

Kato glanced at him in the rear view mirror, then looked back at the street. And as he took a left, he hoped against hope he would not get to say ‘I told you so’.


	2. Chapter 2

The car rumbled into the warehouse, the green headlamps seeming brighter in the dingy surroundings. Kato cut the engine and waited. He looked over the back seat at Britt.

He was already pushing at the man’s shoulder. “Ok, out. Find your boss. Introduce us.”

“Ok ok - I’m going,” he said, sliding out of the car.

Britt opened his door but paused. “Stay here. If anything hinky starts, you take this place out with all the weapons this car has.”

“Be careful,” Kato nodded.

Britt climbed out of the car, looking round. Puddles of engine oil, dank water, something vaguely smelling of fuel - they littered the broken up, used concrete surface of the open warehouse. Iron railings went around the four walls at twice head-height, supporting some kind of walkway all the way around. Large concrete stanchions blocked certain views as Britt turned in a circle, trying to take in as much as possible.

The man was pointing at Britt as he backed up toward a ramshackle, corrugated iron shed in the far corner, just by the only ladder up to the catwalk. “You stay there. I’ll get the boss.”

“How about I just come with you?” Britt announced. He put a foot out.

A chorus of guns being cocked made him pause. He tipped his head up to see shapes appearing on the upper catwalk, with suspiciously dark items that continued to make metal sounds as he swallowed.

“Or I could stay here? I don’t want any of you to touch my car or anything,” he warned.

There was a muffled banging and he realised a black and white glove was hammering on the inside of the Black Beauty’s passenger window. “I _told_ you so!” came the equally stifled after-shout.

“Yeah, yeah, you told me so,” Britt muttered. “Just once _I_ want to be right.”

The man went into the shed and it was quiet for a long moment.

Britt sniffed and looked up at the ominous shapes above. “So are you guys like freelance or are you under contract right now?”

No-one moved.

He cleared his throat and shrugged to himself, as if he cared neither way.

The door to the shed opened. He watched as a black-suited figure came out, trailing the man from the street. As the suit got nearer Britt’s eyes narrowed on what he realised was a woman. A wave of dark green hair set into a chin-length bob caught of all his attention, but then the tattoo down the side of her neck made him wonder how far it went. The white shirt with the open collar, the skinny black suit - and the large, chunky Doc Marten boots in shiny black - made him re-evaluate many of the plans going through his head.

_This chick looks super tough. I’ll just have to be tougher_. “Olá,” he called out. “Word is you run these people.”

She slid her hands into her pockets, wandering closer until she was a car length away from the bonnet of the Beauty. “And who might you be?” she asked, sounding as if boredom had set in hours ago.

“Your man there didn’t tell you?” he asked. He looked at the person in question behind her shoulder. “Dude, you were supposed to introduce us.”

She smiled faintly, turning to look at the man from the street. She nodded and he stumbled back, heading for the safety of the shed. She turned back to Britt. “He told me the Green Hornet was here. Are you him? Because quite frankly I’m underwhelmed.”

“We just haven’t had a chance to get to know each other yet.”

“Something tells me we never will.” She lifted a hand from her pocket, her index finger going up in the air and describing a circle. Guns were cocked and feet shuffled on the upper walkway as her hand dropped back into her trouser pocket.

“Why don’t you tell your squad up there to take five and we’ll talk about distribution in this city,” he said firmly. “You may be underwhelmed but I’m Shania Twain lady - those men don’t impress me much.”

She let out a wider smile, glancing at her feet before flipping her long bangs to one side to look at him again. “You do amuse me,” she said. “And people normally don’t. However, I am running a business here and I don’t need you.”

“Now that’s where you’re wrong,” he said, folding his arms. “If I’m not with you then I’m against you, right? You think you can distribute drugs in my city without my say-so?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah? Well - uh - well check with Chudnofsky, see what he says about that.”

Her smile faded and she sniffed to herself. “What you’re saying is, if I don’t take you onboard as a partner, you’ll make my life difficult?”

“I will make things very hard for you,” he warned. “Sure, you might get around road blocks or cops getting the drop on you, and you might cope with me and my partner beating the crap out of your men every night and still have some dudes left to work - but all that takes time and effort. It’ll be so much easier when we’re partners and I’m working _with_ you, not against you.”

“Or I could just kill you. Here. Now,” she shrugged.

“You could,” he nodded. He thumped at the roof of the car twice. “Or I could just kill _you_.”

Two long slits opened in the bonnet of the Beauty to allow slim gatling guns to lift up into place. They began to rotate.

She looked at them, just a car length from her waist. Her eyes went back to Britt. “Is that your partner?”

“No, he’s in the car,” he said, confused.

Her hand went back up but this time made a cutting gesture. The guns on the upper catwalk clicked and slid again - before feet shuffled back. Her hand went back into her pocket.

Britt looked up to see the armed welcoming committee had disappeared. He thumped again twice. The gatling guns stopped spinning - but they stayed in place.

“How about we talk about this merger in a more comfortable setting?” she asked.

“I heard that,” he said, rubbing his hands together. He started to walk toward her.

“And bring your partner,” she said. “I don’t do business with people I haven’t met.”

Britt stopped by the passenger window. He knocked on the glass and the driver’s door opened slowly. Kato climbed out, looking up at the catwalk then around at everyone as if he had all night. He closed the door with a single index finger and then walked around the bonnet to stop in front of her. His weight on one leg, his gloves out as if waiting for applause, he just looked at her.

“ _Damn_ you can wear a suit,” she smiled. “With me, gentlemen - step into my office.”

ooOoo

Lenore picked up her glass of wine, taking a sip and laughing at the antics of the Three Stooges on TV. She heard a buzzing and realised she had left her phone on the adopted work table. She paused the TV and jumped up, hurrying over and snatching up the phone.

‘ _Kato_

_2 messages_ ’

She frowned and unlocked it quickly, going through the menu to get to the news.

‘ _I need a date for the party. Please help_ ’

She smiled and shook her head, then scrolled down to display the next message.

‘ _Also if I die tonight then please kill Britt for me_ ’

She giggled and took the phone back to the sofa, picking up her wine. She sat slowly, thinking things through.

And then she unlocked her phone and went to Facebook, searching for a certain lady in Support and Admin.

ooOoo

The door was held open for them and they wandered into the small shed, Britt as if it were a cute pet store and everything fluffy were on sale, Kato as if every item were venomous and held a grudge.

“This way,” a voice said. They turned to look - and found a man nearly seven feet tall and built like a skyscraper.

“Oh- _kay_ ,” Britt managed. They were shepherded through another door - that left them on a six foot square platform with the boss and the skyscraper.

She pulled a lever. The platform went _down_.

“Whoa!” Britt cried, his hands grabbing the railing. Kato’s hands went out for balance but he did not make a sound. “Holy shit, lady! This is so cool!” Britt gasped.

The platform cut through the darkness until it slowed and came to a graceful stop. She waved a hand out and Britt went first, eager to see more. Kato looked at her, then the huge man, and then followed Britt at a careful pace.

They found themselves in what appeared to be a half-finished open office. Sheets of plastic were draped from doorways that were simple wooden frames with no attached walls, electrical sockets had wires trailing from them, plasterboard and paint cans being used as trestle tables. Dotted around them were at least twenty people wearing face masks and counting money using machines.

“Looks like we came to the right person,” Britt announced. “I like a businessman who can run a tight ship.”

“Business _woman_ ,” she said mildly.

“Oh yeah - same,” he nodded quickly.

She looked at Kato. “And you. Do you have a name?”

“Totally,” Britt said, stepping forward. “He’s the Blue W—”

Kato’s fist went into the base of Britt’s back. He coughed and stopped talking. Kato smiled at her in a way that put her in mind of a shark sensing a vibration. “Do you?”

“You can call me Sapphire,” she said.

“Sapphire,” he said quietly, his head tilting as if trying the name on for size. “Like the stone?”

“Like the stone,” she smiled. “Come, gentlemen, let’s have a drink, shall we?”

“He’s driving,” Britt said, stepping in front of Kato again. “But I’ll have one, sure.”

“You _are_ amusing,” she said, turning away.

They followed her further into the office environment, finding more people counting - except this was no longer money. Bullets were being lined up, counted into packaging, then bundled into small cardboard boxes. On the next table small plastic resealable bags half full of white powder were being sorted into groups of five and sealed into slightly larger ziplock bags. Still more bags, this time containing assortments of coloured pills, were being sealed into small boxes. Everything was being sorted and taken to a growing city of stacks made of boxes at the end of the office.

She stopped by a filing cabinet that had a wooden tray on top. It was populated with a bottle of vodka and a host of shot glasses. She unscrewed the lid, filling two glasses. She paused over the third. “Are you sure you won’t join us?” she asked Kato.

He nodded.

She shrugged. “Pity.” She screwed the lid back on and set down the bottle. She handed one glass to Britt, picking the other up herself. “Now then. How much are we talking to keep you on my side and out of my way?”

“Out of your way?” Britt asked, eyeing the shot in his hand. “We could help.”

“You’re just two men, and we have sixty,” said the huge man.

Kato looked up at him. “Yeah, and we took out Chudnofsky and DA Scanlon.”

Sapphire studied him for a moment. “That you did.” She tipped the shot back and finished it. Britt looked at his and did the same. “So what will this cost me?”

“Twenty-five percent,” Kato said.

“Twenty-five?” she echoed. “You _do_ think a lot of yourself.”

The large man shouldered through everyone to stand close to Kato, sneering down at him. “I could squash you, little man. And all this goes away.”

“Charlie, please,” Sapphire said - but she was smiling.

“He will beat your ass till you scream like a little boy,” Britt shot back.

Charlie looked from Britt back to Kato. “Show me why you’re worth twenty-five percent, Tiny.”

Kato’s right foot moved so fast not one person saw it. It cracked sharply into his temple - _twice_ \- accompanied by an animalistic _whoop_. He paused, his knee still in the same high striking position, his foot bent back as if just waiting for a reason to snap out straight again.

Charlie toppled to the floor. He lay still.

Kato let his knee and therefore foot down to the ground cautiously, adjusting a glove. He looked at Sapphire.

She frowned, snapping her fingers. A man hurried over and she gestured to Charlie’s insensate body. “Take care of him,” she growled. The man nodded and immediately went over to him, kneeling and rolling him onto his back to assess the damage. She looked at Britt. “Twelve percent.”

“Twenty,” Britt countered, folding his arms.

“Fifteen.”

“Done.” He put his hand out.

She passed the shot glass to her left hand and shook his firmly. “Your job is to protect the docks as we conduct our import and export. That gets you fifteen percent of the takings.”

“Done and done,” Britt said proudly.

“One thing first,” she said. “An easy job for you, considering your resumé.”

“What’s that?” Britt asked.

“This new DA - Jennifer Park.”

“Yes?”

“Kill her for me. Do that, and this whole deal is sealed.”

“What?” Britt spluttered.

“Easy,” Kato said, stepping forward. “We already have her under surveillance.”

“Right - yeah,” Britt said hastily.

“Then we have an agreement, gentlemen. Straighten out that little wrinkle and you will have my undying gratitude - and a comfortable protection job.”

Kato eyed her for a long moment. Britt nodded and shrugged. “Yeah. Easy. Come on, let’s go,” he said, waving at Kato.

The two of them went back to the platform. Sapphire snapped her fingers at the man checking that the blood over Charlie’s face was just from his nose. “You,” she said sharply. “Take them back up. Make sure they leave.”

“Yes boss,” he said smartly. He pulled off his face mask and went after them, heading for the platform back up to the surface.

Sapphire went to Charlie. She knelt down and slapped gently at his face. “Come on,” she breathed. He jerked and blinked around, confused. “You’re ok,” she said quickly. “Just a K-O.”

“Little shit,” he grunted.

“Take it easy. Get up when you’re ready.”

He nodded, letting his head fall back to floor as she straightened up again.

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through contact names before pressing ‘call’. It rang and rang. “Evening,” she said, a smile in her voice. “And how’s my favourite police informant?” She listened for a moment. “Right, well - if you want to make some money tonight then you’ll forward me all the info you have on the Green Hornet.” The voice answered back. “Yeah but whether you get caught for this or not doesn’t interest me - the crap I have on you going way back should be all the reason you need to just _get it done._ Tonight. Usual channels.” She cut the call and thought for a moment. Then she scrolled again, finding another name. She pressed the green button and waited. “Find me all you have on the Green Hornet. Send it over. No, I don’t care. Just send everything you have.” She paused. “Because if you don’t, I’ll put together a special email to your boss at the Daily Sentinel and he can have the pleasure of firing you for gross misconduct, stealing company files, and releasing sensitive information to a criminal gang for personal gain.” She paused to listen. “I thought so. Usual channels. Tonight.”

She touched at the red button. And then she smiled.

ooOoo

Britt closed the door on the Black Beauty, sitting back in the seat. Kato climbed in the front, closed the door, and started the engine. He twisted to put his arm over the seat behind him to help him reverse the car out of the decrepit building and into the dark road beyond. He pushed it into gear and the car moved off slowly.

They drove in silence for five whole minutes.

Then Britt exploded with glee. “Did you see that, dude! We were awesome! How cool was that!”

“It was pretty cool,” Kato nodded with a grin.

“ _Hurgh!_ We are the shit, dude! We just got her to let us into her gang and all we had to do was beat up a guy built like Dwayne Johnson!”

“ _I_ beat up the guy built like—. Who you said.”

“Alright, you did,” Britt said. He came forward and hung his arms over the passenger seat. “Man, that was cool.”

“And we didn’t die.”

Britt laughed, shaking his head. “No we did not.”

“But… now she wants us to kill the new DA. The one you want to come to your party.”

“Which is… Friday, right?” Britt asked. “But that’s perfect! We make sure she comes, we stage some kind of assassination, and we keep her at the Reid residence until this Sapphire broad thinks she’s really dead.”

“Keep her? She’s not a pet, Britt.”

“That’s not what I meant. She’ll think she’s being kidnapped, but… the rest of the world will think she’s dead. How’s that for a plan?”

“And how do we do that?”

“Well it’ll have to be after most of the party is done, I mean I have to try and flirt with her before then as Britt. Y’know - like, _me_ -me.”

“Typical.”

“Hey - you’ll need some time with _your_ date too, right? Before you have to start Ip Man-ing everyone in the face to help me ‘kidnap’ her?”

Kato glanced at him in the rear view mirror. Then again. Finally he huffed. “Ok.”

Britt clapped a hand on his shoulder, wobbling it. “See? It’ll be fine. I’ll make a plan and then we’ll just do it Friday. We won’t need to tell Sapphire it’s done - she’ll read all about it in the paper - _our_ paper - the next morning.”

“This isn’t 1966, Britt. She’ll get a news alert on her phone five minutes after it happens.”

Britt chuckled. “Whatever, dude! She’ll get told and we won’t have to make anything up. She’ll just see it in the press and think we did our part. Then we get to see the bit of her operation where the books are at, who else is in it with her, like any politicians and stuff - and then we get them all arrested in her secret underground villain’s lair. —And after that we release the DA.”

“You make it sound easy,” Kato accused.

“Well—”

“Just promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“That Lenore will help you with the plan.”

Britt sat back in the seat, folding his arms. “Thanks, man,” he pouted. “I thought my plans were pretty good actually.”

Kato looked at him in the rear view mirror. “They are. But Lenore… can _add_ things.”

“You’re right,” he nodded. “You’re right. Now let’s get back. It’s after one in the morning and I am exhausted.”

ooOoo

Mike Axford took a long look around the rebuilt office, nodding to himself. He stepped back, closed the door, and made sure it was locked before he pocketed the keys.

He yawned and ran a hand through his hair, turning and walking toward the elevators at the end. He whistled to himself, jangling his keys in his pocket as he watched the lights above the doors tell him the elevator was getting closer.

There was a _ping_ and he watched the door slide open. He was surprised to see a woman about to step out.

“Evening,” he said, stepping back and to one side. She walked out, nodding her head in thanks. “Working late?” he asked.

“Oh - yes, Mr Axford,” she said. “I just need access to some files - you know, the sensitive ones.”

“Ah-hah,” he allowed. He stuck his foot in the lift door before it could close. “And you don’t mind me asking which files and how you’re going to use them?”

She dug in her bag for a moment, then hauled out a pass. “Amy De Souza - Support and Admin,” she said. “Sean asked me to check the background details on his new article before he sends you a draft.”

Mike put a hand up. “Sorry but you know I have to ask, what with the possibility of leaked data these days.”

“Sure,” she said breezily.

“Well don’t work too late,” he smiled.

“Thanks.”

He nodded and got into the elevator, pressing buttons. The doors closed and it whizzed away.

Amy was left looking around the mostly black office, all the lights out save the emergency one in the far end of the ceiling, and the ones on motion-detect from outside Mike’s new office. She sighed, shoved her pass back in her bag, and stalked with determination toward the filing room.


	3. Chapter 3

Kato woke with a jerk. He blinked at the ceiling, noticing the patch of peeling paint had made more headway across the plaster just a fraction. Sighing, he rolled onto his side, about to reach for his phone. Finding the room much brighter than it ought to be, he sat up and looked around.

He saw traffic moving around behind the thin curtains, heard people on the pavement a floor below, and realised something was very wrong. He reached over and snatched up his phone, pressing the Home button but finding it would not wake. Shaking it only brought to his attention the fact that the used and abused power cable was still plugged in. Following it back to the wall socket, he found the exposed wires of the damaged cable were lying in a pool of water that had seeped from the underside of the refrigerator sometime after he had given up and gone to sleep. He dropped the phone quickly, and then realised the clock on the table was also powerless.

Slapping a hand over his face, he yanked back the blankets and threw his legs over the side of the bed.

It took him ten minutes to find that no amount of searching would yield a fusebox, twenty minutes to get washed, shaved and dressed without the aid of electric, and two seconds to decide it was about time he got a new phone charging cable.

Or maybe just a better refrigerator.

ooOoo

Charlie looked up from the laptop, a smile on his face. “Boss! _Booooss_!”

The door opened and Sapphire poked her head in. “What?”

“Your media guy - he’s sent through everything they have on the Green Hornet - there’s tonnes of photos and articles here.”

“Who says he’s a guy?” she smiled, walking in and over to the desk. He scooted the chair to one side and she bent down to look at the screen. “Whoa. You weren’t kidding.”

“You want I should transfer all this to the other laptop and start sorting it into useful stuff?”

“Absolutely.” She straightened up, standing back to allow him room to work. “Let me know if there’s any clue there to his real identity - or where he keeps his car.”

“Yes boss.”

ooOoo

“I don’t know yet,” Britt said, waving his hands up in surrender. “Look, all I know is, he dropped me back last night and I guess he went home. I have no idea where he is now.”

Lenore folded her arms. “Well his phone won’t connect either. Have you even tried it?”

“I have not. It’s…” He looked at his watch. “It’s not even eleven o’clock! Give the poor guy a break! Jeez - maybe he’s just lying in!”

“Kato doesn’t lie in,” Lenore said, biting her lip in worry. “He’s always up by just after six and he’s always on his way somewhere.”

“How do you even know that?” Britt cried. “Wait - is he trying to date you again? That little—”

“No he isn’t,” she said. “Not that it’s any of your business. We text each other, ok? As friends. And no matter what time I text him overnight - when he’s not out in the car with you - he only reads it at after six in the morning. And he’s always on his way to a gym or a coffee place with wi-fi.”

“He doesn’t even have wi-fi at home?” Britt gasped in horror. “That’s _inhumane_.”

“It keeps crapping out on him. We don’t all live in mansions.” She turned to go.

“Hey,” he protested, his hands out in surrender. She stopped and looked back at him with guilt slowly spreading across her face. “Look…” Britt began. “I put him on a proper salary, ok? To make this whole Executive Assistant thing look legit - which it is. It’s up to him what he does with his money, right? _That’s_ none of my business, either.”

“Sorry.” She went to the door. “If you hear from him, let me know, ok? If it was anyone else I would think he just overslept. But… with you two he could have been attacked or snatched or… anything.”

Britt’s eyes widened. He shot to his feet. “Get us a cab. We’re going to his place to check on him.”

She nodded and opened the door - to find a very surprised Kato with his hand out, about to open the other side. “Kato!” she gasped.

“Hi,” he managed, walking past her into the small office. Lenore closed the door again.

“Where were you, man? We were really worried!” Britt cried.

“Power cut,” Kato shrugged. “My phone and my clock are dead, so… no alarm.” He scratched his head. “And I just didn’t wake up at six. I _always_ wake up at six, but… this morning I didn’t.”

Lenore rolled her eyes. “We were _really worried_ something had happened to you,” she hissed, keeping her volume low. “Like _happened_.”

“I’m ok,” he said, his hands out for calm. “Really, just a power cut.”

“A power cut,” Britt said, sagging back into his chair. “What like, the whole block is out again?” He looked at Lenore. “You said Cali could pay its electric bill this year.”

“It can,” she said. “And it can’t be the whole block, it wasn’t on the news.”

“I think it’s just me,” Kato shrugged. “Can I charge my phone in here?”

“You haven’t seen your messages?” Lenore asked casually.

He pulled the phone from his pocket to shake it meaningfully. “It’s dead. Nothing.”

“Then… leave it to charge in here for now. And I need some coffee, so… do you want one?” she asked politely.

“I need something,” he allowed.

Britt put his hand out and took the phone, connecting it to one of the many chargers he seemed to have plugged into the thick electric cable lying on the nearest corner of the filing cabinets to his right. “Go, dude. I’ll let you know when it’s got some juice.” He set the phone on the desk next to him.

“Thanks.” Kato followed Lenore out of the small room. She closed the door and folded her arm through his, pulling him away quickly and heading for the tiny coffee-making area. He let himself be guided, bewildered enough to follow where he was led.

She pulled him round the side of the partition and then stood him straight. “I’ve told you before - just because you _can_ wake up at six every day, doesn’t mean you _don’t_ need more sleep. Maybe that’s why you slept in till… What time did you wake up?”

“Nearly ten,” he said guiltily.

“See?” She shook her head as she pulled her phone out of her handbag. “Anyway - about the party. I have a plan.”

“You do? Britt’s already told you everything?”

“He didn’t need to - and you know he wouldn’t,” she sighed. “Anyway, I’ve got it all figured out. Just pick something to wear from the email I sent you and be ready. I’ll have everything else arranged. And don’t worry - she won’t know I’m helping you.”

Kato put a hand to her arm. “See? I _said_ you should do all the plans,” he grinned. She giggled and he let her go. He stepped back and his head darted left, round the partition surreptitiously, to check the wooden door was still shut. “Have you told Britt?”

“Why would I tell Britt? You know he can’t handle these things like an adult.”

Kato grinned at her. “Ok. So… I have to wait for my phone to charge, then try to get someone to fix the icebox in my apartment.”

She shook her head. “No no no. You leave it to me and I’ll get you a _new_ icebox - and your electric fixed.”

“I don’t want a _new_ icebox, I just want—”

“Well you can’t have it leaking all over the place. What if next time it causes like a fire or something?”

“But I can’t have a—”

“Kato—”

“No new one! I can’t have a new one.”

“Sshh!” she ordered, one finger up in command. “Leave it to me. I’ll get someone to take away that crappy old refrigerator and get you a new one.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Too late,” she said, almost sing-song, as she tapped something into her phone.

“You… You are a superhero,” Kato said quietly. “Your super power is organising things.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. “Now you have to go down to the ground floor - the break room - and get coffee from the machine. You’ve missed her nine o’clock but…” She looked at her watch. “Eleven - quick! Go now!” She straightened his suit jacket, spun him round, and pushed.

He just went, not quite sure what was happening but willing to go with the flow.

ooOoo

Amy walked into the room, heading for the sink and rinsing her coffee mug out. She picked up the dishwashing scourer and gave it a good scrub before rinsing it again. She went to the machine in the corner and, for perhaps the fiftieth time, tried to work out how to get something drinkable from it.

Someone else entered the break room but she didn’t turn, just folded her arms and read the instructions on the front of the machine all over again.

“Do you need some help?” said a voice.

She turned to find a black suit standing three feet behind her. Her mouth went dry.

Kato’s head tilted to one side as he wagged a finger at her. “Uh… Amy, right? From the elevator.”

“Yes, Mr Kato,” she blinked.

He gave a dismissive wave. “Just Kato.” His eyes slid off her sudden smile to the machine in front of her. “Is it broken?”

“Oh no. I’m just really bad with this thing. I’ve never had one - I don’t know how they work. I’ve tried following the instructions but I just seem to make a mess. Or at least, not decent coffee.”

“I can do it,” he shrugged. “I know a little bit about coffee machines.”

“Really?”

He offered her a friendly smile and she stood back, watching him. He bent slightly to read the instructions, then frowned.

“Everything… ok?” she wondered.

He pointed to the text. “Big words in English. My weakness.”

She giggled and he picked up a cup, flipping it round his finger deftly to set it on the pad. She watched him open up scoops, replace ground coffee, set up milk and all kinds of extras.

He looked at her. “How do you want it?”

“Ex...cuse me?” she swallowed.

“Your coffee?”

“Oh - oh yes. Uh - black, please. No sugar. —But maybe how they do it in restaurants so they get kind of frothy mocha just around the rim.”

He nodded. “Easy.” He pressed at buttons and manipulated scoops, and before she knew it, he was lifting the cup from the pad and handing it to her.

She took the handle gratefully. “Wow,” she managed. “I guess you _do_ know a little bit about coffee machines.”

“A little,” he shrugged, with a small smile.

“Uh, Mr Kato, I was wondering—”

“Just Kato.”

“Oh. I was wondering if… Well I know this is forward of me and we literally only just met but… that is, if you’re not busy, and… if you’re already going anyway, then…” She smelt her coffee trying to grab her attention but bravely ignored it. “Well… Are you going to the work party on Friday?”

“Maybe.” He looked at his feet. “It’s a works thing and I’m an EA, so…”

“Oh. Because… I was hoping that…” She swallowed as he looked back at her. “Well… would you consider going with me?”

He twisted to check over his shoulder quickly - finding only an innocent wall - before he turned back to her. “Me?” he asked, waving a finger at his face.

She nodded.

“Me?” he repeated, sounding very critical. “Go with you?”

“Or… not,” she said quickly. “I mean, I know you must already have like a supermodel to go with and everything—”

“Yes.”

“Yes, see? I knew you would,” she sighed.

“No - yes, yes I could - uh - go… with you. If you… wanted,” he offered, every ounce of effort going into appearing effortless.

“Really?” she managed.

“If you want to.”

She grinned. “I would _love_ to.”

“Ok then.” He paused. “Uh… I can pick you up, or…?”

“Oh, yes, ok,” she giggled. “I hadn’t really thought this through. —I mean I thought you’d say no.”

He frowned, mystified. “Why would I say no?”

“Oh you’re cute,” she breathed.

He smiled and straightened up, apparently well pleased.

She giggled again. “Oh - my number. I’ll give you my number and then you can text me - I’ll send you my address.”

“Ok,” he said, patting down his suit pockets, “but I only have a motorbike.”

“Of course you do,” she sighed in complete satisfaction.

“Oh - uh - my phone is upstairs. Charging.” He pulled the notebook and pen from his top pocket. “Here.”

She handed him her coffee, then proceeded to flip through pages to find a blank one. “Wow - did you draw all these?”

“Just playing,” he mumbled.

She smiled and found an empty page, writing her number on it. She added her name underneath. “There. The party starts at eight. What time should we arrive?”

“Definitely fifteen minutes late,” he smiled. “I come for you at eight?”

“Yes _please_ ,” she said. “ _And_ the party afterwards,” she winked.

He nodded, and she very clearly saw her _double entendre_ fly about three feet over his head.

She handed him back the notepad and pen, and he offered her the coffee. As he checked the page and slipped it back in his pocket, she curled hair around her ear. “Ok, so… bye.”

“See you later,” he nodded, giving her a small, somewhat awkward wave.

“Message me.” She twirled out of the room clutching her coffee mug, leaving him to walk back to the coffee machine.

He nodded to himself, then took a deep breath and let it out with a satisfied grin. The fingers of both hands snapped themselves in victory, leaving his index fingers to point at the machine for a moment. He began to whistle to himself as he found clean coffee cups.

ooOoo

Kato carried the two cups of coffee back to Britt’s tiny room, closing the door softly with his foot and handing one to the seated man.

“Thanks—. You didn’t have to do that,” Britt said, with distinct discomfort. “You’re not supposed to be the coffee boy, remember?”

“I already made one for me,” Kato shrugged. “What about the party?” He leant against the wall, sipping his drink.

“Well I’ve just chased up on our invitation to the DA, but I think I should go pay her a visit in her new office - make sure she’s coming, right? Otherwise this whole thing will be for nothing.”

“The employees don’t know that. They think it’s for them.”

“And it is… sort of.” He picked up Kato’s phone, tilting it up. “Twenty percent charged. You want it?”

“It can wait an hour.”

“You sure? It’s been lighting up every two seconds since it got enough power back.”

Kato came round the desk and took it, being careful not to pull the charging cable out. He set his coffee on the filing cabinet next to him to save his burning fingers as he unlocked the phone and scrolled through messages. Smiling faintly, dismissing or scrolling, he was totally unaware that Britt was watching him as if hoping for news on a sports score.

“Well?” Britt asked.

“What?” he said hastily, locking the phone again and putting it back.

“Is that your date for the party?”

“No.”

“What’s she like?”

“Who?”

“Your date.”

“She’s… nice.”

“Is she hot?” Britt grinned. “She’s hot, right?”

Kato pulled his suit lapels straight as he jutted his chin out with pride. “She thinks I’m cute.”

“You _are_ cute,” Britt nodded, wide-eyed. “Just be careful with her, ok? Make sure she’s not like a super villain trying to get under your cape.”

“I don’t have a cape.”

“You know what I mean.”

Kato tilted his head, thinking. He picked up his coffee, taking a sip. “Ok.”

“Anyway. You want to come check out the DA with me?”

“I want to use your laptop. Mine’s flat.”

“Well knock yourself out,” Britt said, getting up from the desk. “It doesn’t do porn sites and the works firewall stops you looking at social media for more than ten minutes at a time.”

Kato rolled his eyes as Britt finished off his coffee, taking the cup with him toward the door. “Don’t tell her you’re a masked criminal,” he called after him.

Britt chuckled. “At least, not on a first date,” he winked. Kato frowned and opened his mouth. “I’m totally joking!” he laughed, opening the door and disappearing out.

Kato watched the door. He waited.

And waited.

Finally satisfied that he was alone, he sat down at the desk and picked up his phone, scrolling back through messages. He re-read the ones from Lenore before he went to the laptop, opening up a browser and logging into his email. He found her email about suits and his eyes skimmed down it.

After twenty minutes of staring at suit styles and using Bing to translate some of her more complex comments, he nodded to himself and made a note of names and shops.

He jumped slightly and slapped his hand to his top pocket, taking out his notebook and flipping to the page Amy had written on. He saved her number to his phone contacts and then sat back, biting his lip. He scrolled through for Lenore and pressed Call.

The line clicked. “Hey. What’s up?” she asked.

“Oh - uh - a woman asked me to go to the party with her. I got your email about the clothes, but… what do I do next?”

“Is this Amy?”

“Yes,” he blinked, surprised.

Lenore laughed and squealed something down the phone, forcing him to pull it from his ear lest he lose his hearing on a semi-permanent basis. “I knew it! She was talking about you in the elevator and I just knew if I pushed you into her path she’d ask you!”

“You did this?”

“What did she say?”

“She… asked me to go with her. I said yes.”

“Excellent!” she gushed. “And then?”

“I offered to pick her up. That’s ok, right?”

“What did she say to that?”

“She gave me her cell number - said if I text her she will tell me her address.”

“That’s perfect!” she grinned. “Oh I’m so happy for you! I spent like an hour on her Facebook feed, checking her connections, her hobbies, trying to find something wrong with her. But she just seems… normal.”

“You checked her out?”

“Of course! If she was crazy or was mean to animals or something then I wouldn’t let her anywhere near you.”

“Uh… thanks.”

“So - right. Listen. Here’s what you do.”

He pulled his notebook back toward him, flipping the pen round his fingers and clicking the end into life. “Ok.”

“You pick her up - just be yourself, and not late, ok? When you get to the party, let her talk to her friends and colleagues but don’t leave her alone with them.”

“Why?”

“She’ll feel like she’s been deserted - trust me,” she said quietly. “Anyway, if you get enough time alone then talk to her about her hobbies.”

“What does she like?”

“According to her Facebook account she’s into cooking her parents’ Portuguese dishes, mountain biking and reading - and she’s a big fan of bullet journals.”

“Bullets?” he asked, surprised.

“Not like ammo - like a diary,” she giggled.

“Ok,” he muttered. “What if she asks me about _my_ hobbies?”

“Well… keep it simple. Cars, the gym, artwork, Mahjong, piano…”

“I don’t know artwork.”

“You sketch cars, schematics, people - you’re good.” She paused but he didn’t answer. She smiled. “Hey. You’ll be fine. She already likes you - you just need to _talk_ to her.”

“My English isn’t that good.”

“Your English is _fine_ , Kato. And she’ll be patient. Slow down, keep it simple… and if you can’t get any words out at all then just _smile_.”

“Then I will be smiling all the time.”

She chuckled. “I think she’d like that.”

“…Lenore?”

“Yeah?”

He paused, taking a deep breath. “ _Thank_ you.”

“You’re welcome. Now go get yourself a new suit and then you need to be at your apartment for four o’clock.”

“Why?”

“You have a new refrigerator being delivered.”

“But I don’t want a—”

The line clicked. He pulled the phone back and looked at it, before he blinked and put it back on the desk to continue charging.

He logged out of his emails, went to the temp and cookies cashes and emptied them, and powered down the laptop.

Picking up his coffee, he sat back in the chair and let a million thoughts run through his head. He finished his drink, put his notebook and pen back in his top pocket, then checked the amount of charge on his phone before unplugging it and taking it with him out of the small room.

ooOoo

“Miss Park?” said a voice.

Jennifer Park looked up from her desk, still writing as she did so. She found her PA leaning in the doorway, hanging onto the door handle for balance. “Yes, Martin?”

“Britt Reid is here to see you.”

“Oh - the media guy, right?”

“Yes Miss Park.”

She nodded. “Show him in - and please don’t interrupt us.”

“Of course.” Martin disappeared from the doorway and another, taller man came through.

“Hey! Here she is! The newest, most awesome DA on the west coast!” he cried with an ebullience she felt across the twelve foot gap.

“Mr Reid, is it?” she said, getting to her feet.

“Hey, call me Britt,” he said, advancing on her and putting his hand out.

She shook it as she looked at him, taking in the bright, amused eyes, the expensive suit - and the tiny dinosaurs on his dark green tie. The door to the office closed and she let her hand drop.

“So what can I do for you today?” she asked.

“No no no,” he said, standing back and shoving his hands in his pockets. “It’s not what you can do for me, DA Park, it’s what _I_ can do for _you_.”

Her left eyebrow arched. “What exactly do you mean by that? There are laws against taking money or rewards in kind, you know.”

His face dropped. His palms came up in surrender. “Oh no - not like that,” he said. “I meant—. Oh I said I’d be good at this.” He took a deep breath. “This city has seen some shit, right? I mean drugs busts, the last DA thrown out of a building - it’s been nuts. I just think that with a new DA the city needs to see you, right? It needs to see there’s someone in charge and they’ve got this city covered. That person is you, and I want this city to know that.”

She let out a small smile. “And of course, get a scoop for your paper.”

“Hey, anything you want to tell me for the paper is just business, and really, that’s not my thing. I own the beast but I don’t edit it. Anything you want to tell me off the record? It’s _totally_ off the record, man. I don’t even keep notes of what _I’m_ supposed to be doing, you know?”

She folded her arms across her black dress, looking him up and down. “You are not what I expected, Mr Reid.”

“Britt, please.”

“I met your father a few times. He was… not like you at all.”

“Believe me, I know _that_ ,” he said quietly. “So… are you coming to the party Friday?”

“I wasn’t going to… I didn’t want to be seen to be on the side of the press. However…” Her head canted to one side. “I think I could swing by.”

“Awesome!” he grinned. “Would it look bad if I picked you up?”

She smiled. “I think it will look… like you’re extending a courtesy to the new DA.” She nodded. “You can pick me up at eight.”

He slapped his hands together. “Cool! See you then.”

“See you then, Mr Reid.”

“Britt!” he called, even as he twirled toward the door. “One day I’ll get you to call me Britt!”

She waved him out. He opened the door and was gone.

Her smile slipped. She sat down slowly, turning her chair to the window behind her and looking out over the city.

There was a knock on the door and she sat straighter. “Come in.”

Martin poked his head around. “You’ve had two calls - I’ve sent them to your emails. Do you need anything?”

She put her elbows on the arms of the chair, steepling her fingers. “Yes. We need to open a new file, Martin.”

“On what, Miss Park?”

“On Britt Reid. Something tells me he isn’t what he seems.”


	4. Chapter 4

The two men manoeuvred the refrigerator in through the door, crossing the room and setting it upright. Kato stood back, watching them disconnect and pick up the old one, heaving it out onto the decking and down the iron steps to the parking lot below. He walked over to the new appliance and ran a finger over the top door, marvelling at the crisp brand-new-ness to the lines. It even _smelled_ new.

“Excuse me sir,” said a voice, and he stepped back guiltily. The workman came round him and walked the heavy item back into the spot where the old one had been. He pulled off plastic wrapping and then went about checking power plugs and points. “Now you can’t turn this on for a few hours, right? Coolant needs to settle again. Wait till about…” He flicked a look at his watch. “Give it till six-thirty, ok? Then plug it in and wait another hour for refrigeration, and like overnight before you use the freezer down the bottom. Ok, sir?”

“Yes - thanks,” he said, as the man tore the top page of a work order off the pad and held it out to him. He took it quickly. “And the bill?”

“Already paid, sir - looks like a works perk,” he grinned. “Oh - the work order said to check your electric supply too.”

“I think it was a power cut but I can’t find the - the - the switches,” he said.

“And you won’t, sir, not up here. They’re normally out by the parking lot. I’ll take a look as we leave, ok?”

“Thank you,” Kato said, relieved.

“No problem, sir.” He clapped a hand to his arm and then walked out onto the metal landing. “Jimmy!” he called, and a man leaning against the delivery truck, quietly puffing on a cigarette, looked up. “Fuses!”

Jimmy waved and dropped his cigarette, crushing it out before crossing to a host of boxes down by the base of the iron stairs. He opened one up and got to work.

“Ok then sir - remember, don’t turn that on just yet,” he said to Kato.

He nodded. “Got it.”

They paused as an electronic beep told them the microwave oven had been turned on, and then the clock on the table began to flash midnight.

“There you go - fuses reset,” he nodded. “Have a good day, sir.”

“Thank you.”

The man nodded and walked off down the landing, going down the metal stairs to catch up with Jimmy.

Kato stood on the upper walkway, watching the truck pull out of the lot. He turned and went back inside, his foot slowly closing the door behind him. Walking up to his new refrigerator, he freed the doors of safety tape to look inside. He frowned and stood back to fold his arms. It was silent as his grumpy eyes inspected every facet of the appliance. He gave a resigned sigh as he had to appreciate the dryness to the floor, and the fact that it would stay that way. He was just unsticking the plastic A4 wallet from the side, opening it to look at the guarantee and various instruction manuals, as his phone rang.

He took it from his pocket and looked at the display. He touched at the green button. “Britt?”

“Hey - DA is a go for the party, dude. I’m picking her up at eight.”

“Good.”

“So have you asked Lenore about a plan or you want me to do it?”

“She said everything is handled - Sapphire won’t even know she’s helping us so she’ll be safe.”

“That woman is amazing,” Britt said.

“She really is.”

“Hey - no dating her, remember?”

“Hey - _I’m_ the one taking a date tomorrow night, and you are the one hoping to get lucky.” He cut the call, putting his phone back in his pocket. He twisted to look across the room, at the new suit hanging from the makeshift wardrobe pole against the wall. Embroidered swirls from the base to the chest and the cuffs to the elbows, the jacket was all dark blue, shimmering silk, all the way up to the Nehru collar. The trousers, also midnight blue but with embroidered swirls only down the sides from the knee, looked like they were waiting for some serious fun.

“ _I think I’m actually looking forward to this party_ ,” he said in Chinese, allowing himself a small smile.

ooOoo

She felt a rumble in her back pocket and immediately rescued the phone, not even looking at the display before she answered it. “I’m here.”

“Well?”

“A small problem,” she said. “The Green Hornet turned up.”

“ _What_?”

“Totally unannounced, boss - I have no idea how he even knew we’d moved in on Chudnofsky’s turf.”

“What did he want?”

“A distribution deal,” she said. “I made him talk for a bit - promised him fifteen percent of the take if he controlled the docks for us. And then I told him he had to get rid of DA Park to get in.”

“Interesting, Sapphire. _This_ is why you’re my second.”

“Thanks, boss.”

“Having said that… You shouldn’t have made a deal without me.”

“It wasn’t a real deal, boss. Once he’s killed the DA - if he pulls it off - then we just kill _him_. And his partner, too.”

“I like it. See to it, would you?”

“Yes boss,” Sapphire said. The line clicked and she locked the phone, slipping it back in her pocket. She thought for a second, then strode out of the shed and into the open warehouse. “Charlie,” she called.

The skyscraper was perched on the bonnet of a brand new Mustang. He looked up from his phone. “Yeah?”

She studied his twin black eyes from having fallen on his nose on a hard metal floor. “You want some payback?”

“On the little guy? You bet.”

She smiled. “Then keep an eye out for the news. Boss says when the DA is done, we kill the Green Hornet - and his sidekick. And when I say ‘we’, I mean ‘you’.”

Charlie grinned. “Looking forward to it.”

ooOoo

Britt got up from the laptop in his tiny office. “Right - it’s already six o’clock, dude. We split up and get ready for the big show tonight.”

Kato, closing the small refrigerator door behind Britt, straightened up with a bottle of iced tea in his hand. He looked at his phone, typing something with his thumb. He put it back in his pocket. “You haven’t told _me_ the plan yet. Did Lenore talk to you already?”

“Right right - get ready for _this_ ,” Britt grinned. He swept up his jacket from the back of the small chair, walking toward the door. “We go get our party duds on, right? But we also stash our secret outfits at the venue. We pick up our dates, then—”

“ _I_ pick up my date,” Kato said, pointing a finger at him round his bottle. “You have to pick up the DA.”

“Whatever, ok? We get them to the party, we have a good time, we do some flirting, we maybe get to first base, then—”

“Like baseball?”

“Yes, like baseball,” Britt said irritably. “Then—”

“Why baseball? I thought this is a party.”

“It is, ok? I meant we try to…” He stopped and huffed. “Forget it. Anyway, after we’ve broken the ice, talked to our dates and everything is heading in the right direction, _then_ we disappear and get changed. We storm the party as criminals and shoot the DA with gas. Everyone screams and runs, we stash her in the trunk of the Beauty and then we leave.”

“But my date will want to know where I am.”

“Ok ok - _I’ll_ leave with the Beauty, you stay and look innocent.”

Kato’s eyes narrowed. He stared at Britt.

“What?” Britt asked.

Kato stared.

“ _What?_ ” Britt demanded.

“I am just thinking of all the ways this will go wrong.”

“Oh come on, bro! This will be easy.”

“But you’re the head of the party - when people don’t see you then they will think something is wrong.”

“But _my_ date is the one in the car - yours will be running around screaming or looking for you,” Britt argued. “We can’t be in two places at once.”

Kato’s head tilted and then he twisted the cap off the bottle, taking a sip. “I don’t like it.”

“You _never_ like it.”

“Because it always goes wrong. Is this really Lenore’s plan?”

“Look,” Britt sighed, “just this once, can you please have a little faith? It’s all going to work out, ok? _Trust_ me.”

Kato took another sip. “Ok. Just… be careful with the DA. If she really gets hurt then this whole thing is ruined.”

“I know, dude, come on,” Britt said.

“Where do we hide her when she’s back at your mansion?”

“Wine cellar,” Britt said.

“You have a wine cellar?”

“Don’t you?” he grinned. “It’s clean, it’s not too cold - and she could shout for _hours_ and no-one will be able to hear her.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“Hmm.”

“Ok listen - I’ve had women down there before and they’ve been _screaming_ , right? And no-one, not staff, not my dad - no-one heard us. Ok?”

Kato gasped in shock. “Why were they screaming?”

“Dude,” Britt said, shaking his head. “I don’t know how you do it in Shanghai, but American girls make a lot of noise when they enjoy themselves. Especially when I’m _good_ ,” he grinned, waggling an eyebrow.

Kato’s eyes narrowed and he frowned at him for a whole five seconds, a tasked looked on his face. Then it twisted in horrified realisation. “No! No! Stop! I don’t want that picture in my head!” He slapped a hand over his eyes.

Britt laughed. “Chill, dude. Anyway, come on, let’s go. We have like two hours before the party and we need to get everything in place.”

“ _Ugh_ ,” Kato shivered, clearly still disturbed. He followed Britt, his bottle in his hand, as they walked out of the small office.

Britt heard him humming as they walked to the elevators. “What’s that you’re singing?”

“ _Anything_ ,” Kato said deliberately. “Anything so I don’t remember what I just saw in my head.”

Britt laughed and pressed the button for the elevator.

Something buzzed in Kato’s pocket and pulled his phone back out, pressing to get a message up. “Oh.”

“What?” Britt asked.

Kato turned the phone round to show him the screen. “Is this place far from here?”

“Whoa, posh part of town, dude. Is that your date?”

“Maybe,” he said, his chin high, as he pocketed the phone again. “I can use the sat-nav.”

“Yeah but don’t let it make you take the bridge,” he said, as the elevator pinged. “Traffic can be a bitch around there and you can’t be late.”

ooOoo

Kato pulled the bike round in a graceful twirl, stopping at the kerb and wondering what to do next. However a light went on in the house set back from the pavement, and then the front door opened.

Amy stepped out of the door, turning and locking it securely. He let his mouth fall open at her outfit; black skinny trousers in some kind of shiny, silk material; killer black heels; an off-the-shoulder top that would have made Brigitte Bardot weep; her chestnut hair waved up on top like a miniature beehive, and a small, studded silver clutch purse in her hand that matched her drop earrings. In her other hand was a silk bomber-style jacket, which she lifted and waved at him.

“聖姦!” he breathed in awe.

She stepped off the front porch and walked down the path to the kerb, stopping with her clutch and jacket in her hands. “Hi,” she smiled.

He gazed at her, unbidden. “Wow,” he breathed, making her giggle. “Um - hi,” he said smartly, sitting more upright. “Ready?”

“Am I ever,” she grinned. “Do I get a helmet?”

“But your hair is perfect.”

“And it will be when I take it off, too,” she said firmly. “I’ve spent all night on this.”

He twisted and reached back into the storage at the end of the seat. Lifting it open, he producing a helmet that matched his. She gasped as she saw something else in there. “Wow - is that your jacket?”

He let himself smile. “Yes.”

“It’s amazing,” she whispered, spying the blue and making out swirls and embroidered work. She looked at him but he simply offered her the helmet. She grinned and folded her jacket carefully, placing it and her clutch in the storage. She took the helmet and he closed the box, steadying the bike.

She did the strap up under her chin. “So… I’ve never been on a bike before. Do I just hold onto you?”

“Yes.”

She put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she climbed on behind him. She shuffled up closer to his back. His bike jacket smelt of old leather and engine oil, and she threaded her arms round him and squeezed.

He cleared his throat, wet nervous lips, and gunned the engine. “I go slow, ok?”

“Perfect,” she said in his ear.

He smiled and pulled away from the kerb.

ooOoo

The limo pulled up at the front of the building, as if daring anyone to suggest it didn’t own the road. The chauffeur got out of the front and went around, opening up the back door. Britt pushed himself out, nodding to the man and buttoning up his relaxed tux jacket. He looked up and down the street before he crossed the pavement to the front door.

A man just inside waved him to wait, then pushed a keycard into some kind of box. He pressed a button and the door opened up, allowing Britt to walk in. He stopped by the man and looked around the lobby.

“Mr Reid, sir,” the man said politely.

He smiled. “Hey, how you doing?”

“DA Park is on her way down. Would you mind waiting?”

“Not at all,” he nodded, putting his hands in his pockets and turning to the sofas along the wall. He let his expensive shoes heel-toe up past the sofa as he looked up at the paintings along the walls. He stopped as he came across former DA Scanlon. “Hmm,” he allowed, scenes of extreme hatred and violence crossing his memory.

Somewhere an elevator pinged. He jumped and turned to see the doors slide open and DA Park step out.

A deep red silk dress clung to her as if afraid of heights. Her dark hair was elegantly brushed and apart from the sides being swept back and out of the way, the rest fell around her bare shoulders in a way that made Britt’s mouth go dry. She was carrying a simple black clutch and a black silk wrap that had fallen from her shoulders to sit quite comfortably in the crook of her elbows. Her black heels _clack-clack_ ed across the lobby until she was stood in front of him.

“Evening, Mr Reid.”

“Ah-ah-ah,” he grinned. “Britt.”

“Shall we?”

“You know what? I think we shall,” he said, immensely satisfied. “It’s a short ride to the party but I hope it’ll be fun. We’ll have time to break some ice, anyway.”

“Well I look forward to getting to know everything about you,” she said with a smile.

He grinned and put his arm out. She folded her hand around it and they strode to the front door. She nodded to the man with the keycard. He nodded back slowly, watching as they exited the building and were swallowed up by the limo.

He locked the front door again. And then he pulled a phone from his pocket, checking the signal and battery life.

ooOoo

The lobby was a straight affair, long tables set up down either side to allow waiters to keep pouring drinks as guests meandered through. Two men had picked up a whisky each and were chatting by the end, watching everyone arrive.

“And you’re sure she’s coming tonight?” the first asked.

“Sean - forget it. She’s definitely coming, and she’s got that EA to bring her. I _did not_ see that coming.”

Sean grinned. “Well looks like I win our bet then. Although considering _your_ date bailed on you, I’ll forget we made it, ok?”

The other man shrugged. “He was just busy, that’s all.”

“Doug, he’s an asshole. He bailed on you like thirty minutes before you were supposed to pick him up. Sounds to me like you’re better off.”

“What, standing here talking to you?” Doug said, although he did manage a smile. “Where’s _your_ date, anyway?”

“I asked Linda but she’s already got someone,” he shrugged.

“Oh well… that sucks, dude,” Doug said. “So… looks like you, me, whisky and people-watching.”

“Yes it does,” Sean chuckled. Something caught his eye and he looked across to the far side of the lobby. “Like… Britt Reid, for instance.” He raised his glass at the man he could see across the room. “Thanks, boss, for keeping us all on full pay while they rebuilt the offices.”

Doug raised his glass too. “Guess he’s not the asshole everyone said he was.”

“It’s certainly different now Mike’s in charge of the place.”

“And aren’t we glad.” Doug glanced at his friend. “So… Miss Case - Lenore. Is she still his PA?”

“So I hear.”

“That can’t be easy.”

Sean shrugged. “Well she’s not trapped in an office with him all day any more - she’s remote working these days. No office space.”

“That’s her official story,” Doug smiled.

“Hey don’t be too rough on the guy. After all, he did put someone decent in charge, and he did let him have the office. He could have been a prick about it, you know?”

“True.” Doug paused. He spotted a slinky pink dress appear at the front doors, then glide through and up to the long table with wine glasses on it. “There she is - Lenore Case. I heard she spends a lot of time with the EA.”

“Does she?” Sean asked, surprised. “I’ve seen her with everyone though - I think she’s just the friendly type.”

“Yeah.”

They watched as Britt came down the lobby and tapped her on the shoulder. They spoke, Britt excited about something, as Lenore nodded and pulled her phone out of her small purse, typing something in.

“She never stops working, does she?” Doug commented.

Britt put his hand under Lenore’s elbow and walked her away from everyone else. “And don’t worry about tonight,” he said under his breath. “I’ve got it all under control.”

“Ok,” she said, puzzled.

“In the next few hours, all this will be going exactly how we want.”

“I hope so,” she said. “I’ve put a lot of effort into tonight.”

ooOoo

Kato and Amy walked in through the large front doors; she kept her hand through his arm as they made it to the lobby. They nodded to employees already ploughing into the free drinks on offer. People turned their heads, watching in either amazement or amusement as they made their way down toward the doors to the large hall at the end. They stopped before they went through, totally unaware of Sean and Doug staring at them.

“Oh my,” Doug breathed. “She is stunning - what an ensemble. And his suit is just… inspired.”

“What do you reckon? Best dressed of the night so far?” Sean teased.

“Definitely,” Doug said, waving air at his own face. “Her outfit? A nine. His? Oof - maybe a nine and a half. Look at the cut on it! The embroidering that’s _just_ off the same colour so you can see it. Amazing.”

“Does this make up for your date not coming tonight?” Sean chuckled.

“I think it does,” Doug said.

Amy was guiding Kato round toward the drinks table, letting them both get a feel for the size of the room.

“This suit is too much,” he said nervously by her ear.

She grinned. “No - it’s just unusual. And look - everyone else in here is dressed up too.”

They looked around, catching the eye of a few people, and Kato waved awkwardly as he realised the relaxed tuxedos and evening dresses were not as casual as he had feared. The flash of an expensive watch, the bling of a necklace or bracelet made him realise just how much money was swimming around him.

“See?” she said quietly. “It’s just that your suit isn’t as _boring_ as theirs.”

He slid his eyes over to her but she was already leaning closer to his elbow. A huge voice made them both jump.

“Hey you two!” Britt cried, landing a heavy hand on Kato’s shoulder. He turned slowly, dislodging Amy’s touch on his arm. Britt gasped, his hands out in amazement. “Dude! Look at you! You look so cool, man!” He grabbed Kato’s cheeks and pinched at them, wobbling. “Oh my god you look so cute!”

Kato fought him off, glaring at him as he massaged a cheek. He cleared his throat and looked at Amy, but she was giggling, her clutch purse up to cover her mouth. “Britt Reid, this is Amy.”

“Amy! Are you one of our war reporters cos if not, where _have_ you been hiding?” he winked, taking her hand and lifting it as if to kiss. His eye was caught by Kato’s scowl. He let it go gently.

She let her clutch fall to her side. “Oh no - I’m in Support and Admin, Mr Reid.”

“Oh call me Britt,” he grinned. “Well don’t you look beautiful,” he gushed. “Although I’m sure he’s been telling you that since he picked you up, am I right?”

Kato looked at his feet suddenly, scratching at the back of his head.

“—Anyhoo,” Britt said quickly, “you get this guy talking, ok? I mean, wow has he got some stories, and let me tell you it’s not all oil changes and cappuccinos,” he grinned. “My man here is a survivor, right?” he said, pushing at Kato’s shoulder. Kato stuck an angry chin out at him. “Right, well - I’ve got a lot of people to get round but I’ll be back later, ok? You kids have fun.” He slapped Kato’s arm and whisked away, back into the crowd.

“Well he’s… loud,” she managed.

They looked at each other - and then broke into laughter.

Kato turned more toward her, letting his hands go into his trouser pockets. “He is right though. You are beautiful.”

“Oh. Thank you,” she said. “You don’t have to say that just because he did.”

“No - it’s…” He took a breath, looking out at everyone but keeping his chin toward her. “I don’t do this. I don’t know what I should say.”

She looked at him with a warm smile. “Say anything you want.”

He met her eyes for a long moment. “Hobbies?” he managed weakly. He cleared his throat. “What - uh - do you like to do?”

She grinned. “First we get a drink, _then_ we talk about our spare time.”

“ _Yes_.”

She turned away but he caught her up, pausing just slightly in front of her and sticking his elbow out. She grinned and pushed her hand through, and they walked off toward the drinks table.

Lenore sipped her wine, looking over and watching Kato say something to Amy, then pick up a glass of white wine for her. She noticed he only picked up water for himself and for some reason she couldn’t place it made her frown.

“—Isn’t that right, Miss Case?”

She turned back to the conversation. “Oh - sorry. Got lost in the room there for a second,” she smiled at DA Park. “What were you saying?”

“That the rebuild was done under budget and sooner than expected,” she said. “I guess your boss has a way of talking people into things.”

“Oh,” Lenore smiled. “I think people just get tired of the sound of his voice.”

The two other people, older men, chuckled and nodded. “He calls my office sometimes,” the taller one said. “We invite each other to golf afternoons that we can never make. However, it does make things go smoothly. Considering how he was before his father died, I think… he’s come a long way. Made a lot of positive changes.”

“He certainly has,” Lenore said, taking a sip of wine.

DA Park watched her carefully, then turned to see how people were slowly moving from the lobby area into the larger hall at the end.

“Evening everyone,” Britt said suddenly from behind her. “Looks like it’s time to bust some moves, huh? Let’s get this party started!” He put his arms up, as if shepherding them all forward, and gradually, everyone moved toward the sounds of music from the far room.


	5. Chapter 5

“So you’re pretty good at this DA stuff, right?” Britt asked, handing a fresh glass of wine to Jennifer Park. The music played loud around them, people were dancing, talking over the noise, sharing drinks.

She took hers with a grateful nod, watching him sip a whisky. “You could say that.”

“What do you do when you’re not DA’ing people? No wait - let me guess,” he grinned, pointing at her. “You like… rock climbing.”

She smiled. “No.”

“Then… bungee jumping? I know a great place. We should totally do that some time, you and me - what do you say?”

She couldn’t help but grin. “I’ve never done it - I’m too much of a control freak, I think.”

“Oh come on, DA Park - you have to loosen up a bit,” he teased. His head started to bob to the beat unconsciously. “Ok - tell me - what _do_ you do for fun?”

She hissed slowly through her teeth. “Well…” There was a long pause. “Ahm…”

“If you can’t name it right now then it’s been too long since you _had_ any fun,” he frowned. “I have an idea. Why don’t we put like a weekend in the calendar, and then you and me can go do fun stuff. Let your hair down, really go to town.”

She shook her head. “That wouldn’t be appropriate.”

“Appropriate a-shmopriate,” he scoffed. “You have to be careful - loads of people in your profession burn out when they’re still too young. Late nights, constant weekend work - it gets to you. I know it wasn’t good for my dad. If I can stop one person from turning into the workaholic sourpuss that he did then my life isn’t a complete waste.”

She grinned suddenly. “I think I had you wrong, Mr Reid.”

“Britt!” he grinned, his hands out. “C’mon, try it on for size. Just once.”

“Ok then… Britt,” she grinned.

“There, see? You’ve just de-aged like five years because you did something fun.”

She chuckled. “I can see this is going to be an interesting evening.”

“Oh I am very sure it is,” he grinned.

ooOoo

Amy sipped her wine, noticing someone lift a hand and wave at her from across the room. She waved back and then grabbed Kato’s elbow. “Come with me - you have to meet someone,” she grinned.

He just had time to whisk up his glass as she guided them through the dancing people. They broke through to the other side of the room and she paused them by two men.

“Well good evening,” the taller one said, a very wide grin on his face.

“Doug! You look fantastic,” she said. “New shoes? Are those the latest Tom Ford’s?”

He glanced down at them. “Thanks - and yes they are.”

“Oh listen to me,” she tutted. “Kato - this is Doug from Support and Admin, same as me.”

“Hi,” Kato nodded politely.

“And this man here is Sean - my work brother,” she grinned.

“Your what?” Kato asked, looking at the other man.

He leant forward, putting a hand out. “She means we work together very well.”

“Oh,” Kato managed, shaking his hand. “You all work together?”

“Well I’m across the room but we do end up working on everything as a team,” Doug said. “And you’re from the top floor, am I right?”

Kato looked around, the sudden perception of designer bags, suits - _lifestyles_ \- starting to press in on him. “I am really not,” Kato mumbled. Amy glanced up at him, even as Doug leant closer to hear.

“Sorry, what was that?” Doug asked.

“Oh - he’s not in the office a lot,” she said louder to be heard over the music. “I mean, we don’t see you much, do we?” she asked Kato with a smile.

“Uh - no. I don’t even have an office,” he agreed. “Support, mostly.”

“I can imagine,” Doug said with a little sigh.

Amy hid a smile. “Where are _your_ dates?”

“Couldn’t make it,” Sean said, somewhat sadly. “Honestly, it’s getting to be a pattern, right, Doug?”

“Tell me about it,” Doug grumped. “If we have to attend one more party night together as each other’s consolation ‘plus ones’… I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Sean chuckled. “Start giving out membership cards to our little support group.” He stopped short as something caught his eye from the entrance. “Although… Doug, best wingman and faithful friend - do me a favour.”

“What?” Doug asked, his ears pricking up.

“New employee - purple dress, two o’clock,” Sean said. “You’re going to introduce me - make me look good.”

“This will cost you a drink.”

“Done,” Sean said. “Amy, Mr Kato - enjoy your evening. Doug is about to fix mine for me,” he grinned.

“Good luck,” Amy giggled, as the two men nodded to them and made their way to the entrance.

Amy watched them go, shaking her head. She let go of Kato’s elbow, turning around to survey the room. He did the same, sipping his water. He seemed quite intent on checking the entire crowd as the music went up a notch in volume.

She looked up at him. “So… busy day?” she asked, over the music.

His eyes stopped scanning the crowd of dancing people and instead went to her. “Sorry, what?”

“Have you had a busy day? Seems like you’re still working.”

“Oh!” He turned to her deliberately, leaning his elbow on a narrow circular table just in front of them to make sure his entire attention was on her. “Sorry. Yes - busy day. Feels like it’s not over yet.”

“Well when you’re not working… what do you do?”

“Me?”

“Yes, Mr Kato - you.”

“Just Kato,” he said. “Uh… I draw,” he shrugged. “I like cars. And… Uh…”

“Like the ones in your notebook?” she smiled. “You’re really good if you drew all those.”

He looked at the table, feeling a tide of red flood up his face. “Well, a bit.” He cleared his throat. “If you didn’t come to this party, what would you do tonight?”

“I read a lot,” she said. “I know that’s a dying art but I like it. I’ve got a crime thriller on the go right now - honestly I can go through about three or four in a week.” She sipped her wine. “Now you - what did you have planned for tonight until you had to come here instead?”

“Mahjong night,” he nodded. “Me and some friends - we try to meet once a week. We start around seven and sometimes we don’t finish until breakfast.”

“Mahjong? The game?”

He blinked. “Do you know it?”

“I try to play it on an app but I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Really?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes - look.” She pulled her phone from her clutch and unlocked it, flicking through apps with her thumb. “Here - I’m terrible. Look at my losing streak. It goes too fast for me, and I’m still trying to figure out the rules so—”

“I can help,” he said with a bright smile, plucking it from her fingers and turning it round. She watched as he frowned, pressing on settings. “This is not even in—. You want English?”

“Oh yes please. I didn’t know you could change it - I couldn’t get it to copy and paste into a translation app.”

He ran through some other settings. “Oh - you have it on expert. You want it on easy to start?”

“Please.”

He tapped and then turned the phone back round to her. “Here. Now you can read it and it will be easy, like starter mode.”

“You are a _genius_ ,” she gushed. “Thank you. I’ve asked loads of people at work but they didn’t know how to help.”

“I have a… an unfair advantage,” he smiled.

She giggled. “So what else do we have in common?”

“We both work at the Daily Sentinel… uhm…”

She pushed at his arm. “Do you have a favourite book?”

“Uh… _Feng Yun_ … by Ma Wing-Sing.”

“Is that in English?”

“Sorry - no.”

“Never be sorry,” she said dismissively. “What’s it about?”

He studied her for a moment. Then he wet dry lips, as if steeling himself. “Two warriors in ancient China - one is an orphan, the other is the real son of a warlord, and they have adventures.”

“So tell me why you like it.”

His eyes went down to his hand on the table, his other hand going to rub the back of his head awkwardly. “I am an orphan - since very young. So the orphan boy in the story was like me.” He smiled at her suddenly, embarrassed. “Oh - I wanted to be like _him_ , I mean.”

“And have adventures?” she asked, somewhat sadly. He shrugged, tilting his head in a yes. She smiled. “That’s a good reason - you know I think I like crime thrillers because I want to know who did it,” she added. “Who looked after you until you came to America?”

“Orphanage,” he said. “I had good friends - we are always in trouble, always naughty.”

“I can believe that. And then?”

“Well… many things happened. I came to America - everyone says—,” He paused to change his voice, making it deeper, more dramatic; “’You can do anything in America’.” He shrugged. “I had many jobs, but… eventually I worked in a garage, fixing cars. I met Mr Reid there - Britt’s father.”

“Wow,” she said, her eyes wide. “But… just you? No friends came with you?”

“Just me.”

“You must have been lonely.”

“Sometimes. But if I am alone then no-one can let me down.”

She frowned. “That’s a little…” She sipped her drink. “Don’t you miss Shanghai?”

“Sometimes. But I like my work in America. I think… I _like_ what I do now.”

She leant her head closer to his. “I grew up in Colorado,” she said in a quiet voice. He moved nearer to hear. “Then I spent a few years in San Fransisco. I didn’t know what LA was like until a few years ago when I moved here. It’s… _weird._ ”

“It _is_ weird,” Kato gushed, pleased.

“Ok - favourite car.”

“The Bla—.” He cleared his throat. “Uh… maybe… I would have… an antique like a Shelby Mustang. Or the big slow Cadillacs with all the chrome,” he added with a smile.

“Seriously? You’d be fixing it every morning,” she giggled.

“Then a Tesla. The model S from 2019 onwards.”

“Nice,” she blinked. “My old boyfriend used to work for them.”

“Oh,” he said, looking at the table.

“Back in Colorado,” she said quickly. “He’s not in LA - thank god.”

He watched her look across the room, her face losing its smile. “Is that why you came to LA?”

“Maybe,” she said. “I still like car workshops though - my dad was a mechanic, so his overalls all smelt of oil, or metal - you know that smell when someone’s been welding but there’s a bit of oil in the background?”

“Yes,” he said, a rainbow of surprised happiness taking over his face. “I like that smell - smells like… like a comfort smell.”

“Well there we go - something else we have in common.”

He looked around, noticing there were now more dancers than drinkers. He gestured to the long black curtains at the back of the room. “You want some air?”

“Yes please,” she said, waving at her face.

He held his elbow out and she wrapped her arm around it to navigate them through the room. They disappeared through the curtains to find a balcony. Once through and up to the railings, the music deadened somewhat by the fresh air and the cloth barrier, she breathed out and looked at the city.

“What’s Shanghai like?” she mused, staring out.

“Not like this,” he said quietly. “Bright lights, busy people… but… so different.” He paused, watching the breeze try to re-arrange her bomb-proof hairdo. “Colorado?”

She giggled. “Well the bit where I’m from… it’s sleepy. No bright lights, no excitement. Do you know, I never even saw the ocean until I was twelve. We never really ventured from Colorado, even though it was just… dusty and quiet and… parochial.” She turned her head to look at him. “I don’t think it would be… _adventurous_ enough for you.”

His head listed to one side as he thought about it. “What do you think _is_ adventurous enough for me?”

“I could be,” she dared, sliding a step closer along the balcony railings. “I mean…”

“Why me?” he asked.

“I don’t understand.”

He looked out at the view, and she watched his profile. “There are lots of people here tonight, and you work with many people, speak to everyone…” He looked at his hands on the railing. “You seem like you are not very confident, but you do all the confident things - and very well.” He paused. “I don’t think I…” His voice died. She put her hand on his, moving up closer. His eyes went up and found hers. “Something is… I have a… I’ve been unhappy about this all day.”

“What?” she asked carefully. “Coming with me tonight?”

“No! —I…” He huffed, his brain searching for words. “I got a new refrigerator. And it makes me feel… guilty.”

“Guilty?” she asked, confused. “Did you steal it or something?”

“It’s new - brand new, never used. And… I don’t have new things. I’m just a… I’m just the boy left behind - I lived in an orphanage and everything was temporary, all the time. One day a new friend, then they’re gone - they have a new family. But not me. Always I’m the one left behind. So when I came to America and I have no money, just my clothes and my hands… everything is new to me here, so my things are… You might call them old or secondhand but to me they’re new. So a new refrigerator is… I can’t have that - not _me_. It’s a waste. Someone else can have a new one because… I just want the used one, so I don’t feel…” He shrugged, his eyes going down again. “I don’t know the word.”

She bit her lip, watching him, but he looked at their hands and didn’t move. She squeezed at his fingers. “A lot of people feel that. Your head tells you you’re not good enough, that you don’t deserve good things.” She wobbled his hand, making him look up. “But it’s lying to you, Kato. You _do_ deserve good things, and those people who left you behind? Maybe it was because you were too good for _them_ \- they weren’t your people. The people you’ve found now - _they’re_ your people.”

“Why do I think that…” He sniffed casually, his head tilting as he looked up. “Why do I think that I can tell you anything?”

She studied his face, hers taking on a slightly perplexed expression. “Maybe for the same reason that… I feel like… We only met yesterday, and yet… I feel like we’ve known each other for years.” She smiled. “I think this is what my brother calls ‘clicking’ with someone.”

“Clicking?”

“Yeah, like…” She shrugged. “We just started talking and… we like the same things.”

“You don’t care about…” He paused, searching for words. “Well… you don’t care my English is bad?”

“Your English is _not_ bad - now, my parents? _Their_ English is bad. That’s why they went back to Portugal.” She squeezed his hand. “And I think I _like_ how different we are. We’re from such different backgrounds and yet…” She shrugged. “We both like books, and cars, and…” She leant her head closer, flicking her eyes up and down his face. “And I’m hoping you like me.”

He managed a small, embarrassed smile. “Very much.”

“Then… please kiss me.”

His eyes went wide in surprise. “Now?”

“It stops me talking so much.”

“Uh—”

Her face hovered closer as she smiled. He swallowed and dared to step closer - until something buzzed in his pocket. He tried to ignore it but it went again.

He stepped back. “Sorry. Work phone.”

She smiled, her hand going down the arm of his jacket to feel the silk against her fingers.

He fumbled in his pockets, realising his hands were hot and possibly shaking just slightly. He cleared his throat as he fished out the phone and turned away from her.

‘ _Britt_

_2 messages_ ’

He scowled and walked away, back to the curtains. He unlocked the phone, tapping to get to the messages.

‘ _IT’S ON. 10 mins dude_ ’

He scrolled down for the next one.

‘ _Ur getting it on with Amy am I right? High 5 partner’_

His eyes rolled like pinballs in a new machine as he went back to the home screen and locked the phone. He shoved it back in his pocket. He spun back to find her still at the railings. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok.” She watched him from across the balcony, folding her arms slowly. “Now… where were we?”

He looked around at the peaceful night scene in complete innocence. “Where do you want us to be?”

She grinned.

ooOoo

“Well it’s that time,” Britt said loudly, drawing a lot of people’s attention. He waved a glass in the air, smiling around at everyone. “Sorry folks - party on without me. I’ve just got to make some calls and I’ll be right back.”

A man next to him looked at his watch. “At this time of night?”

“Hey - not everyone is on the US time zone, right?” he winked. “Keep it going for me - I’ll be back!”

He whisked his way through the crowd, chatting and nodding to people as he went. Eventually he came to the end of the room and swished through a curtain to a door behind.

Jennifer nodded politely to a man still talking at her, but then put a hand up. “Sorry - excuse me for just a moment, would you?” she asked.

He nodded and stepped back, and she smiled and touched his arm before setting her drink down and making a beeline for the same curtain. She slipped behind it and found her nose inches from what appeared to be a heavy door. She felt around for the handle, her fingers tripping over it and pushing. The door opened silently and she stepped through without hesitation.

She heard a voice and turned to her right, following what looked like quite a clean corridor, except it was unfurnished. She tip-toed as much as she physically could in her high heels, before she paused and simply whipped them off. She hurried along, bare-foot, to the end. The voice got louder and then she heard a dirty chuckle. A chink of light was escaping from a door to her left and she veered over to it, setting her eye to the gap.

“Go get her tiger - you’re not on the clock tonight,” Britt was saying into his smartphone. “I’ll handle the rest of it - you handle _her_.” He chuckled again.

Jennifer frowned, listening carefully.

“What? No - I can do this,” Brit protested. “Yeah I know but you’re having a good time, right?” He waved his other hand around. “Look - just have some fun, ok? It’ll stop you being such a cranky bastard in the morning. Trust me.” He cut the call and pushed the phone back in his pocket.

And then he stopped dead.

He turned in the small room and looked directly at her through the gap. “Well hello,” he said suavely. He crossed to her but she pushed the door toward him gently, opening it wider. “Who do we have here?”

“I was… looking for—”

“If you say the restroom I’ll be really disappointed,” he said, his face sad to the extreme.

“Ok, no, I wasn’t looking for the restroom.”

He grinned. “I get it,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender. “You followed me down here, right? Hoping to get a little one-on-one time?”

“What?” she asked, surprised. “No, I—”

“It’s ok, you can admit it,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets. “It happens a lot.”

“Oh does it,” she said flatly.

“Well… yeah,” he grinned. “If you wanted this to be a proper date, you just had to say, DA Park.”

She frowned. “Actually I was suspicious of who you were on the phone to.”

“Of course you were,” he said. “Let’s go with that story, shall we?”

She stood back. “I think I’ll be going now, Mr Reid. Enjoy your privacy.” She turned and walked off.

He stuck his head out of the door. “Hey now - don’t go!” he called after her. She stopped dead, her back to him. _No - go go go,_ he thought frantically. _I’ve gotta get my superhero outfit on and beat you back to the room!_

She waved a hand over her shoulder, then stalked off.

He blew out an immense sigh, pulling back into the room and closing the door. Then he hurried over to the far wall and opened a trunk, pulling out a long coat, a hat, and a familiar green mask.

ooOoo

Jennifer slowed as she came to the curtain obscuring her entrance back into the room. Loud, thumping music was still coming from behind it and she leant her hand against the wall to keep her balance as she slipped her shoes back on. She took her phone out of her purse and dialled the only number in it.

“Yes.”

“I think he’s clean - for now. He sneaked away to make a phone call but I think he was just being someone’s wingman.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“We’ll… keep the file open. Just because he didn’t pull anything tonight doesn’t mean he won’t later.”

“Yes, Miss Park.”

“Thanks Martin.” She cut the call and put the phone back. Then she straightened her dress, flicked her hair over her shoulder, and tried to pretend she had not just found her professional guess wide of the mark. She opened the door and swished the curtain back, sneaking back into the room.

The overhead lights were now down, only coloured spotlights sweeping the crowd of dancers and drinkers. She walked through carefully, finding herself at a spare table across the room. Looking around, she was surprised to find not only a waiter approaching her with a tray of drinks, but just about everyone having a good time.

She took a tall thin glass from the waiter, thanking him with a smile, and then forced herself to relax. As she took in the people all around her, she heard the laughter, the talking - saw the smiles, the happiness. She knocked the entire flute back in one go, realised it was actually real champagne, and shrugged to herself. As she turned to set it down, the waiter re-appeared and offered her another one.

“Why not?” she said, swapping glasses and sipping the fresh one. Something in her unwound; she realised something had changed and she was simply shedding hours of work-related thoughts with each sip. _I think I’ve just de-aged another year,_ she heard herself think. She smiled, shaking her head. _Maybe Mr Reid was right about this downtime thing._

A woman was bouncing through the crowd, giggling and pulling someone else by the hand. She stopped by the table and turned, seeing the DA and standing back one. A man bumped into her back, prompting him to laugh and put his hands to her shoulders to stop himself bowling her over.

“Oh wow - you’re DA Park!” she called over the music.

She smiled. “Hi - er…?”

“Amy,” she said, an excited flush to her cheeks. “Amy De Souza.”

“Hi, Amy De Souza.”

The man’s head came round the side of Amy’s and his eyes went wide. “DA Park,” he blurted.

“Hi. _Mr_ De Souza?” she hazarded.

“Oh - no,” he said quickly, his hands springing off Amy’s shoulders. “Uh - Kato.”

“Ah, Mr Kato - I hear you’re Britt Reid’s Executive Associate in all this?” Jennifer smiled.

“Just Kato,” he nodded.

Amy stepped closer to her to be heard. “Are you enjoying the party?”

“I think I actually _am_ ,” Jennifer replied, surprised. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a good party.” She looked the two of them up and down. “You?”

“It’s had its moments,” Amy said smugly, spotting a waiter and rescuing two flutes from it. She passed one to Kato, who just blinked at it, lost. Amy grinned. “Now you can’t tell me you don’t drink champagne,” she warned him with a wagging finger.

“Uh - not a lot, no.”

“Well try that. If you don’t like it, we’ll just… find something else,” she grinned. He sipped it, then almost coughed it back out. He managed to cover his mouth but he was grinning. Amy rescued the flute from him. “You alright?”

He waved a hand up, swallowing but still smiling. “It has bubbles.”

She laughed and Jennifer did too, surprising herself as much as the others.

“You poor sheltered boy,” Amy teased. “Next time you can try any drink on me in retaliation.”

“Next time?” he asked, surprised.

Amy looked at Jennifer in clear disbelief, then shuffled both flutes to her left hand. She grabbed Kato’s hand in her right. “Excuse us. We need to talk,” she announced, pulling him away.

Jennifer laughed, shaking her head, as the two of them disappeared back into the crowd. “Maybe tonight was just what I needed,” she said to herself, finishing off her champagne.

A loud _crack_ split the air. She froze; _I know that noise._

“Everyone be cool!” shouted a thick voice.

The music stopped; the lights snapped on.

Someone gasped and pointed to the stage at the end of the room. “It’s the Green Hornet!”

Everyone turned to look; Britt was pulling at the brim of his hat to shield his eyes, obviously just as unaccustomed to the suddenly bright room lights as everyone else.

Someone screamed. Abruptly everyone was pushing and shoving, trying to get to the exit at the opposite end.

He fired again, into the ceiling. “I said be cool!” he raged. “Stop! Stand still!”

The crowd slowed.

“Now I want the new DA, and I want her now!” he shouted. “Get her up here or I’ll just start seeing how many of you I need to go through to find her!”

A taller man suddenly stepped in front of her. “He’s already killed one DA,” he said over his shoulder. “Keep back, miss.”

She watched the back of his shoulder, open-mouthed. And then she put her hand on his arm and guided him to one side. “I will not,” she said firmly. She put her hand up, drawing people’s attention. They began to move out of her way as she made her way to the stage. “I’m here!” she called. “Don’t you hurt anyone!”

“Ah - there you are!” he called. He waved the gun in a beckoning gesture. “Come on, hurry up - get over here!”

She got closer to the stage. He levelled the gun at her. “Why are you doing this?” she demanded.

People were backing away from her, clutching at friends, dates, tables.

Britt waved her closer. “Because I can. Because I don’t want your kind in my city!”

“My ‘ _kind_ ’?” she snapped. “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“No - I meant - I meant decent DAs!” he said quickly. “I want ones I can control, not goody two-shoes likes you ruining everything!” he added. Her eyes narrowed but she said nothing. He waved at her again. “Now come on! Get up here!”

She looked at the stage, found it just about too high to climb, and looked to the edge. She walked around it slowly, her steely gaze on him as he fumed impatiently. She found the side stairs and climbed.

He lurched over and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to the centre of the stage. She yanked her arm free angrily, stepping back.

“Now let this be a lesson to any of you who think you’re safe in my city!” he shouted. “You’re not! This is _my_ town, and if you think some new DA broad can stop me? You’re wrong! _This_ is what you get for being in the way of the Green Hornet!”

He turned. In one fluid motion he had lifted the gun and pointed it straight at her waist.

She froze in place, a look of desperation on her face.

He fired.

Jennifer stumbled back, her hands to her dress.

Everyone screamed. People started pushing again to get out.

Amy felt herself pushed and shoved along with the crowd. She gripped tight but her hand was losing Kato’s. She grabbed for it, wrapped her two hands around it, as she felt his fingers trying to clamp onto hers. Suddenly she was yanked to a stop off to her right. She looked up and found her shoulder in his chest.

“Oh thank god,” she breathed. “Don’t let go!”

People stampeded the exit. Amy looked around, found only a handful of people still in the room, unable to move. She looked round at the exit. Kato watched the stage, feeling himself pulled slowly backwards by Amy’s steel grip.

Britt pushed the gun into a holster inside his coat, turning to go.

But Jennifer lifted her hands from her dress to find them clean. She swallowed and raised them. She checked her dress and found it unmarked. She looked at Britt. “Uh… I think you missed,” she said weakly.

He spun back to look at her.

Kato, still being dragged backward toward the doors, felt his free hand lifting of its own accord. It slapped into his face and dragged itself downwards. Slowly.


	6. Chapter 6

“Well _this_ shot won’t miss!” Britt raged. He pulled out a green gun, firing it into her face. Gas exploded around Jennifer’s head; she coughed and dropped in an instant.

“Come on! Let’s _go!_ ” Amy pleaded. She yanked Kato’s hand and took off running toward the exit.

“Wait! No witnesses!” Britt cried. They heard shots fired but Kato simply ducked, keeping an arm round Amy and running full-tilt for the exit.

Britt waited.

And waited.

“Hello?” he called tentatively. He looked around, checking all the corners. “Awesome.” He put away his handgun and clapped his hands together, rubbing in victory. He bent over to grab the insensate DA.

“Well well well,” said a voice. “And we only came tonight because we knew she’d be here - and you were taking too long.”

Bent over, still pulling at Jennifer’s hands, Britt looked down the room. “Sapphire?” he asked, confused. “What the hell? You’re supposed to wait for me to tell you she’s dead.”

She was standing just inside the doors to the room, a large, hulking figure behind her. “What’s keeping you? One to the heart, one to the head,” she said, folding her arms as the two of them walked closer. “You do have a gun, right?”

“Well yeah,” he said defensively. “You don’t trust me now?”

“I never did,” she said flatly. They stopped in front of the stage. “Charlie? Kill him. _And_ the DA.”

The skyscraper behind her grinned and ran for the steps. He climbed them to the stage. Britt glanced at Sapphire then back at Charlie. He pulled his Hornet gun and fired point blank.

Charlie dropped straight to the floor.

“Ha!” Britt cried in vindication.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Sapphire said, turning her own, large handgun on him.

He looked over and huffed. “Aw _man_ ,” he heaved. “So unfair.”

“You took out my best man, so I’ll take out yours.” She looked around the room casually. “Where _is_ your sidekick, anyway?”

“Beer run,” he snapped. “And he’s not a sidekick, he’s a _partner_.”

“I can see that by the way he’s left you high and dry here.”

“I _told_ him I didn’t need him tonight. And I don’t.”

“I see. Well when I’ve shot you and the DA and me and Charlie are out of here, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to know you were wrong.”

He opened his mouth but heard sirens. He folded his arms, the Hornet gun under his elbow. “We going to stand here until the cops burst in? Or do we both escape and live to fight another day?”

She rolled it around her head, the sirens getting closer every second. She fumed. “I think I’ll just kill you now and be done with it.”

“If you do you’ll have my partner on your tail. And man, he’s like a ninja. You’ll never see him coming. I mean, go ahead and cap me right now, and then live in fear until the moment he kills _you_ ,” he said casually. “Or we both just bug out of here and do this properly another time. What do you say?”

Her jaw shifted from side to side, her gun hand never wavering.

“How long is it going to take you to get your huge animal out of here?” he asked knowingly. “Lady, you just don’t have time to waste.”

She huffed and let her gun drop. “Ok, get out of here. But we finish this, Hornet - one way or another. And soon.”

He turned and ran from the stage, heading for a side door. She looked back at the fallen DA. And then put her gun in the back of her trousers and ran up to Charlie, grabbing him under the arms and heaving him as fast as she could across the carpeted boards.

ooOoo

The lawn was host to a lot of people, milling about or lying on it in various states of shock. The cool evening breeze swam over them all, not caring what had just happened. Police were going from person to person, taking down names and addresses, establishing who had and hadn’t seen anything useful. The lights from the roofs of the police cars reflected off everything and everyone, turning the evening into a red and blue silent disco of sick fear and relief.

Amy shivered, getting some breath back as she gripped the clutch purse in her shaking hands. Kato appeared in front of her. “You ok?” he asked, putting his hands on hers to hold them still.

“I don’t think so,” she said nervously. “I’m not used to g-guns at parties.”

“Well, LA _is_ weird.”

She shook her head. “You’re not even out of breath,” she marvelled. “I’m - I’m - I feel like my heart is going to explode. I feel sick.”

“It’s ok - you’re safe now.”

“Oohh - am I?” she havered, her voice decidedly weak. “I don’t feel it.”

His mouth opened but he didn’t know what to say. She flung herself at him, putting her arms round his neck. He took a step back in surprise but as the seconds ticked away he realised she wasn’t letting go. Carefully, he lifted his arms to go round her loosely.

She breathed out, long and slow, and he felt her shoulders relaxing. “Oh that’s better - _now_ I feel safe,” she whispered in his ear.

They stood for a long moment as she held onto him. Presently her arms stopped shaking and she took a deep breath, easing him back from her.

His hands dropped politely. “Oh! —I have to find Britt.”

“What?” she gasped. “You can’t go back in that place!”

“He’ll be around here somewhere, outside,” he said. “I will take you home first.”

“Ok,” she said weakly. Then she looked up. “You know what? I think I want a cab. I just—. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I… I think I want to be alone.”

“You sure you’re ok?”

“I will be.” She took a deep breath, then turned to face him. “Thank you for tonight. Next date we go on? Let’s go somewhere quiet. And peaceful.”

“Wherever you want,” he said in earnest.

She smiled, putting her arms out and hugging him. Caught off-guard, he fumbled his arms up and hugged her back. She adjusted her grip and squeezed him, leaning her head into his neck.

He closed his eyes for a second, enjoying her just being there. Then he let her go and pulled her silk bomber jacket straight. “Let’s find you a cab.”

ooOoo

Britt snatched off the hat and mask, dumping them as fast as he could in the trunk. He yanked out his tux jacket and was just pulling it on when he heard a sliding noise. He turned and spotted a fancy blue suit climbing in through a window at head height. “What are you doing in here?” he hissed.

Kato slithered to the floor and dusted himself off. “You idiot!” he hurled. “Why do you think shooting blanks means people fall down and think they are dead!”

“Shut up! It was a great plan!” he snapped back.

“Sshh!” he said quickly.

“ _You_ shush!”

“Shut! Up!” Kato hissed. One hand clapped over Britt’s mouth - the other pushed him back into the wall behind the door.

It opened up a crack - and then another. Kato let go of Britt, pointing at him to keep his mouth well and truly closed. He backed up - and then his foot came up and axed into the door.

It flew back and into someone. They cried out as they fell.

Kato was already darting around it. “Oh shit!”

Britt dodged round and found Kato trying to lift someone off the floor. “Is that - is that Lenore?”

“Now we’re _really_ in trouble!” He supported her with an arm round her back as she sat up, feeling her head and trying to keep things in focus. “Lenore? Lenore? Look at me.”

“Asshole!” she fumed, slapping at him.

He ducked the full force but still caught it on his cheekbone. “Hey! Sorry! I thought you are police!”

She struggled up and he helped her back to her feet. She pulled her dress straight. “Well I’m not, ok? I came to find out _what the hell you two think you’re doing!_ ”

“Can we leave first?” Kato asked.

“Let’s go,” Britt said. “The cops are going to be checking every part of this building for the Green Hornet.”

“Yeah - and why was _he_ even here tonight?” she demanded.

Kato bundled her to the door as Britt brought up the rear. “What? I thought you fixed his plan,” Kato said.

“Plan? What the hell?” Lenore snapped. “ _The plan_ was getting you and Amy together! I have _no idea_ what else you two _goddamn_ _chuckleheads_ were up to tonight!”

“Sshh!” Britt hissed. “Listen.”

All three of them paused and waited. They heard feet and police radios.

“This way,” Britt said, waving them after him.

The three of them piled out of the corridor and through another small door to freedom.

ooOoo

They regrouped at the back of the building, Lenore straightening her dress and feeling at the side of her forehead in pain. “If I have a bruise here tomorrow I swear I will hurt you, Kato,” she accused.

“Sorry! Everything went wrong and I didn’t have time to think!” he hissed.

She put her hands out for calm, noticing they were alone. “Ok - ok. Right. Now - start from the beginning. What was the Green Hornet doing and why wasn’t Kato mitigating the fall-out?” she demanded.

“It was _his_ idea,” Kato said.

“Dude,” Britt protested. He put his hands on Lenore’s shoulders. “Look - you know me and Kato met with the drugs guy, right? Only it wasn’t a guy, it was this totally cool chick with green hair!”

“Yes I know that bit,” she snapped, knocking his hands off her. “And you made a deal. How do you get from that to this omnishambles?”

“We did the deal - got her up to fifteen percent, like you said,” he grinned. “And then she made us promise to kill the DA to get in on the whole racket.”

“And you agreed to go along with it?” Lenore asked, folding her arms.

“We did,” Kato said guiltily.

“So I get this amazing idea, right?” Britt said excitedly. “I pretend to kill the DA in front of witnesses, but actually we just knock her out and stash her someplace while the news reports her dead for us. That gets us into the gang, we bust it up, get everyone arrested, and then release the DA back into the world.”

Lenore glared at him. Finally she sighed. “Actually, it’s not the worst idea.”

“Thank you! See?” he said, swinging a hand up to smack into Kato’s arm.

“Britt! When you shoot someone with blanks they know they are not hurt, you dumbass!” Kato snapped.

“You did what?” Lenore asked.

“He used blanks!” Kato cried, rubbing his face. “And then the DA - she knew she was ok. So then he shot her with Hornet gas.”

“But then it got weird!” Britt interrupted. “Sapphire and Charlie turned up - she was gonna kill me but I talked her round—”

“Who’s Sapphire?” she cried in frustration.

“The drugs boss,” Kato said quickly.

Britt pointed at him. “Yeah - I kept her talking - I escaped - and then Kato found me.”

“And where’s the DA now?” Lenore asked.

“What?” Britt blurted.

Kato looked from Britt to Lenore and back again. “Where’s the DA, Britt? Did you put her in the trunk like you said?”

Britt’s mouth hung open. His eyes went wide. “Holy… shit.”

“What?” Lenore demanded. “What did you do with her?”

“I… uh… After Sapphire let me go I… er…”

“You _ran_?” Kato accused. “You _idiot!_ What if Sapphire _killed_ her?”

Lenore pushed through them and ran back toward the building window.

“Wait - Lenore!” Kato called. He chased after her and the three of them found themselves climbing back in through the tiny entrance.

Lenore slid straight through, Kato appearing next to her. They moved for the door but heard grunting and struggling. Kato looked back at Britt trying to turn and make it easier to drop through the window.

“You go first,” Kato said to her. “I’ll stop Britt from breaking everything.”

She slapped a hand to his arm and ran off. He went back to the window and tried to help Britt get through.

ooOoo

The drive back to the mansion was a long one, painful in the silence that cloaked the inside of the car.

It wasn’t until the Black Beauty was sailing back through the fake hedge and making its way up the private path to the garage entrance that Lenore looked over at Britt, on the other side of the back seat.

“Idiot,” she snapped.

“I know, I know!” he said, raising his hands. “But we got her, didn’t we?”

“Only because Sapphire chose to save her lieutenant instead of taking two seconds to shoot her!”

“But we _did_ get her,” Kato said from the driver’s seat. “Now what do we do with her?”

Lenore folded her arms as the Beauty pulled through the low entrance, Kato bringing her to a stop on the special marks in the floor. He cut the engine and waited. Lenore ran a hand through her hair. “Ok so… we keep her hidden like Britt said. We put out the story that she’s dead. We’ll… feed it to a low-level journo at the paper, get them to run with it. When it hits our news wire it’ll spread to the others - then this Sapphire person will know about it.”

“But she’s not going to let me in the gang now,” Britt moaned.

“Well that was obvious the moment she was going to shoot you,” she snapped. “But… she _will_ stop trying to kill the DA if she thinks she’s dead.” She sighed. “What do we know about Sapphire?”

“We know where her warehouse is,” Kato said, twisting in the seat to look at them both. “We know she has lots of people down there working for her - sixty, I think.”

“And they’ve got cash, bullets, drugs, pill bags - tonnes of stuff,” Britt added eagerly. “What do we do, call the cops on them?”

“They could be clearing out already.” She paused. “Are you sure she’s the big boss?”

“She didn’t _look_ like a big boss,” Kato mused.

Britt tutted. “That’s sexist, dude.”

“No I mean - if she was really the big boss, she would not be doing all the work herself,” he argued. He looked at Lenore. “Do bosses do that?”

“Not usually,” she said, pre-occupied. “Kato could be right.” She threw her hands up. “Look - we get the DA somewhere safe - and leak the bit about her being dead - tonight. The rest… I’ll think about when I’m home.” She opened the car door and got out, slamming it behind her.

Britt and Kato looked at each other. Then they pulled identical winces of self-kickery before turning to their own doors and getting out.

“You,” she said, turning to point at Britt. “Make sure you’ve got all your Green Hornet gear stashed back in the house. —Where were you going to put her? Please tell me you’d thought that bit through?”

“Yeah I did,” he said defensively. “The wine cellar.”

“Oh. Is it dry? Soundproof?”

“Yes and yes,” he said with satisfaction.

“Right, so… you go put her in the cellar. Let her lie down on something - don’t let her get cold or damp. Make sure her eyes stay covered the whole time, even when there’s no-one else around, ok?”

“On it,” he nodded, already going round to the trunk.

Kato looked at her. “What next?”

“Next? Next you take me home, and I have like a whole bottle of wine while I try to work out how to put right all the shit you two lame brains have caused tonight.” She stomped off.

Kato looked at Britt. “You ok to move the DA by yourself?”

“I’ve got this. You make sure Lenore gets home ok. Try and calm her down, will you? We need her.”

“I’ll try but… you know I’m not good with words.”

“You’ll do ok - it’s me she’s mad at,” he said, leaning on the open trunk of the car. “Go.”

“Be careful.”

“And you.”

Kato hurried off after Lenore, tracking her down and managing to get her into one of the less flashy cars in the garage.

ooOoo

He pulled up outside her house, cutting the engine and turning to look at her. She was in the passenger seat, her elbow against the window. One thumb was pressed against her front teeth as she muttered to herself in frustration.

“We’re here,” he said quietly.

She jumped and looked around. “Oh. Thanks.” She went to open her door.

“I—.” He stopped.

She looked at him. “What?”

“Thanks. For tonight.”

“You mean for not hitting you over the head with the nearest blunt object?”

“No, for…” His head went left then right in a little bobble that almost made her smile. “For Amy.”

“Oohh,” she said, a slow smile conquering the upset on her face. “Did you talk?”

“We did.”

“And did you have a good time?”

“I think so,” he admitted with a tiny, shiny smile.

She pointed at him. “A-ha! Did she kiss you?”

“She tried.”

“What?”

“Things happened,” he shrugged. “But she said ‘our next date’ and ‘next time’ a lot - is that good?”

Lenore grinned and sat back, relaxing suddenly. “Yeah, Kato, it’s good.”

“Then… thank you. I don’t know what you said to her but she was interested in everything we talked about - the books and the cars and - and - _everything_.”

“I haven’t spoken to her,” she said.

“What? Then how did you know to tell me what to say to her? What to do?”

“Women know _everything_ ,” she teased, putting her hand out and _boop_ ing his nose gently. He ducked back, rubbing it as she laughed. “It was all you, Kato. I _told_ you she liked you.” She smiled and pushed the door open, climbing out. Her smile shrank. “Do me a favour - stop Britt from doing _anything_ until I’ve thought of a plan.”

“I promise.”

“ _Thank_ you.”

“Goodnight Lenore.”

“‘Night Kato,” she said, waving at the window and closing the door. She turned and walked up the path, producing her keys from the small purse and letting herself in the house.

He waited while the lights came on in the front room, and then she was leaning through the open door and waving. He started up the engine and pulled away.

“ _So now all I have to do is… get this car back to the garage_ ,” he muttered in Chinese. He crumpled in abrupt realisation, blowing out an angry huff. “— _And then go back to the venue and get my bike_.” He shook his head with a long, weary sigh. “ _No more Britt plans_.”

ooOoo

Britt watched the elevator doors open, waited for everyone to leave, and then stepped in. He pressed the button for the top floor, but just as the doors were closing a hand shot round the edge and grabbed it.

He was a little surprised to see Kato throw himself through the gap and then stop dead, looking up at Britt with a face that could easily have been used to put the fear of Bruce Lee into Chuck Norris.

“Well good morning,” Britt grinned. “You ok, man? You look tired.”

Kato backed up to the left wall, his hands behind him on the metal railing. “I had to go back and get my bike.”

“Back where?”

“The party, dick-Reid.”

“Whoa, ok,” Britt protested, as the elevator whooshed upwards. “ _Someone’s_ in a bad mood.”

“I’m tired, I have no breakfast thanks to you, and we have a DA in the cellar and bad guys who want to kill us.”

Britt studied him for a moment. He pushed at his shoulder, but Kato only scowled at him. “So ah… You didn’t get lucky last night then?”

“Last night was so much _bad_ luck. I took Lenore home - good bit. Then I take your car back to the garage - bad bit. You locked the door and I had to break in!” he snapped.

“S-sorry. I kinda thought you were going home.”

“Then I go back to get my bike - no money for the bus! I walk! All the way, Britt!” he cried angrily. “And then I get my bike and take it home. I go inside and my new refrigerator is still not on because of some power switch on new iceboxes so nowhere for my food—”

“ _My_ icebox doesn’t have a switch—”

“All the food is gone bad - I throw it out.” He folded his arms. “And here we are: ‘good morning’ - no food, no sleep, no - no - no… 安心!”

“I don’t know what that means,” Britt said helplessly, just as the lift came to a stop at the top floor.

“I don’t know what is the English word,” Kato snapped. “Always _I_ have to look up your American - why don’t _you_ get a dictionary app on your phone and _you_ look it up.” He barrelled out of the opening doors, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, as he crossed the open-plan office.

Britt stepped out of the elevator, watching everyone’s heads follow Kato’s cloud of anger to the tiny office at the far end. He opened the door, went in, and slammed it soundly behind him.

Britt cleared his throat. “Good morning!” he cried, putting his best smile into it. “How is everyone on this fine Saturday? You all get home alright after last night?”

“Oh Mr Reid - we were worried when we didn’t see you,” a woman said from her desk.

“Well - thanks. But I was ok - lucky I wasn’t there when some madman turned up, right?” he asked. A lot of voices suddenly started up - questions, comments, rebukes. He huffed, putting his hands up for quiet. Everyone stopped. “I know it went bad. I know it was my party, so that’s on me. We’ll get you another one, ok? And next time we’ll have security.”

The door to Mike Axford’s office opened and he cleared his throat. “Britt,” he said politely. “A word, please?”

“Right, so - glad you’re all ok! Let me know if you need anything, and take it easy today, right?” he called, already making his way across the office.

Mike stepped back and Britt went past him, finding himself in a room refurbished to look remarkably like his father’s old office. He looked around the walls, at the commemorative newspapers in glass frames, the photos of journalists watching him.

“You ok, Mike?” Britt asked. “I didn’t see you at the party last night.”

“I’m an old man, son,” he said, walking back to his chair and sitting slowly. “I didn’t need to be out late last night. Besides, I got a call about five this morning - seems one of our youngest got a story.”

“Cool! Anything good?” Britt asked eagerly. “Supermodel stuff? President stuff? _Please_ tell me _someone_ took a fatal golf ball to the head?”

“DA Park. She’s… well, she’s dead.”

“ _What?_ ” Britt demanded, shocked. “She can’t be, she—.” He paused. “Oh.”

“Yeah. There we are. Sorry to have to break it to you. We put it out on our web services last night, and ran with it first edition this morning. Thought you should hear it from me.” He waved a hand at the chairs opposite him. “You want a seat?”

“Uh… no, thanks,” he managed, forcing himself to calm down from the totally unnecessary fright he had just endured. “What… uh… happened?”

“Eye witnesses are saying the Green Hornet shot her right there in front of everyone during the party.”

“Whoa. That dude is serious bad news,” he mused. “Someone should do something about him. Or something.”

“What’s interesting is that some eye witnesses are saying that she was ok before more shooting started. But then a source who was at the party sent pictures.” He paused. “They’re graphic. We’re not printing them, we’re just saying we have good evidence. There’s no body - we’re assuming the Green Hornet… disposed of her somehow.” He leant back in his chair.

“Holy crap,” Britt breathed, shaking his head. “Pictures?”

“Yes.”

“Like - actual proper pictures?”

“Yes.”

“Whoa. That’s like…” He blinked, shaking his head.

“People here said you seemed to be friends with her… I thought you’d want to know. Why don’t you go home. We can handle everything.”

“Are you kidding?” Britt spluttered. “You do anyway.” He threw his hands out sideways in complete helplessness. “It makes no difference if I’m here or not - and we both know that. But… thanks for asking.”

Mike shrugged. “Seemed the decent thing to do.”

“You know what, Mike? You’re a _dude_.” He turned and went back to the door. “I might go home - watch all the footage on the TV that’s bigger than my new office.”

Mike smiled. “Well you chose it.”

Britt looked at his feet for a second, then back at him. “Kinda fits my experience in this place.” He nodded. “Thanks, Mike.” The door opened and he disappeared.

Mike appraised the door for a long moment. “Wonders will never cease,” he breathed, before turning back to the laptop on his desk.


	7. Chapter 7

Kato looked up as the door to the tiny office opened. “No,” he said smartly. “I need your laptop for a few more minutes.”

Britt closed the door softly, making no move to approach the desk. “Look, bro…” he sighed. “I’m sorry, ok? I’m sorry I locked the garage. I’m sorry I forgot you had to get your bike. I’m sorry I screwed up with the blanks and the DA and… just… _everything_.”

Kato paused his hands on the keyboard. His jaw stuck out. But he did not look up.

“From now on I’ll let Lenore check all the plans, ok?” Britt added.

“Why now?”

Britt sighed. “I just spoke to Mike. He says one of our journos got the scoop about the DA being dead last night - not just eye witnesses but _photographs_ \- actual graphic evidence of a dead DA.”

“So? So what?”

“So?” he gasped, coming forward and putting his hands out. “Do you realise what that means?”

“It means Sapphire will believe the DA is really dead.”

“No! Well - yes, that too! But it means Lenore spent all last night making up a story - then she fed it to a low-level reporter and faked all the evidence! For us!”

“You mean for you. You and your big plan.”

“No, dude! For us!” He leant his hands on the desk, towering over both the laptop and Kato. “I’m sorry, man. I thought you should get happy for a change. And I actually believed… I mean I thought I could…”

Kato glanced up, saw the vulnerable look on Britt’s face, and quickly slapped his eyes back on the keyboard. “It wasn’t a… _bad_ plan,” he muttered. “It just… Well… Lenore would have not used blanks.”

“Yeah,” Britt sighed.

“Some of this is my fault.”

“What? No.”

“I thought Lenore knew about your plan - but she didn’t. That wasn’t the plan she was working on. I should have asked her.”

“Ok, so we both messed up,” Britt said miserably. “But we got the DA.”

“We _did_ get the DA,” he nodded.

“And you got a date.”

“And Sapphire will not try to kill yours,” he said. He looked up. “What did Lenore say to do next?”

“What did she tell _you_ to do?”

“I have to stop you doing anything until she tells us what to do.”

Britt smiled ruefully. “Sounds like a good plan to me.” He bounced his knuckles on the table, then stood straight. “So what you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

“Aw come on, maybe I could help. I do know like everyone in the city who does stuff.”

“It’s ok. I want to find something on my own.”

“You do _everything_ on your own, man,” Britt whined. “Come on, just once - trust me.”

Kato looked up. “I trust you, Britt.”

“You do?” he asked critically.

“I trust you… to be you.” He closed apps and then the lid of the laptop, getting up. “I need coffee, and then I will be awake enough to take my bike home.”

“Yeah I’m bailing too. I need to go make sure our guest is still ok in the wine cellar.”

“Don’t even open the door,” Kato warned, pointing at him.

“I won’t.”

“I’m serious! Lenore will hurt us _both_ if you do.”

Britt chuckled. “I know she will. I’m just going to make sure the door’s still bolted from the outside and the safe-room lock is still engaged.”

Kato yawned, ran a hand over his face, and picked up his phone. “I call you when Lenore tells me what we do next. I need some sleep.”

“Take a bagel from the break room,” Britt said. “Eat it for me. You’re wasting away.”

“I’ll eat two,” Kato said, heading out of the office.

Britt waited until he was gone. Then he opened up the laptop, opened the web browser, and went to the most recently used page. He frowned in confusion. “Radar-reflective… car bodywork paint? Whoa - he really is a genius.”

ooOoo

Kato’s fingers juggled with cups, grinding filters and switches as if the coffee machine could produce a Chopin masterpiece. Just as he was flicking the last switch a voice made him jump.

“Hi.”

He spun, knocking an empty mug off the side with his elbow. A twirl and a reach had him snatching the cup out of midair. He froze with it cradled in his palm.

“And that is possibly the fastest thing I’ve ever seen,” Amy said brightly. “Morning.”

“Hi,” he said, turning deliberately slowly and putting the cup down. “You - uh - want coffee?”

“Well I certainly didn’t come down here for the fresh air,” she said. She leant against the other side of the counter top, watching him move his now full cup of coffee to one side and reset switches, empty some filters, and find ingredients. “Did you get home ok last night?”

“Eventually.”

She nodded. “I… was worried. You didn’t… well, you didn’t text me.”

His head came round the side of the machine and his eyes met hers, larger and rounder than she remembered. “I should text you?”

“Well no - not if you don’t want to,” she said. “I just… With everything crazy that happened last night, I just… It would have been nice to know you were ok.”

“Sorry,” he said wincing. “A lot happened.”

“It’s ok,” she said, somewhat quietly.

He continued to look at her for a long moment. Then he went back to the coffee machine. “Mocha today?”

“Hmm… Yes please. But with milk this time.”

It went quiet until eventually his hand appeared round the side, offering her the coffee mug. She looked down at it, seeing the ripple pattern on the surface and smiling. She reached for it but he pulled it back slightly, making her look at him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t text you,” he said with distinct discomfort. “I didn’t know… I didn’t think anyone would worry about me.”

Her smile died. “I get it.” She took the coffee mug, smelling it and letting her smile come back out to play. “This is _amazing_.”

“It’s a good coffee machine.”

“And you’re good at using it.” She sipped it and grinned. “Perfect.”

Someone came into the break room and Kato picked up his mug, moving out of the way. Amy put her hand through his elbow and pulled him along, out of the emergency exit at the back of the room. They found themselves on a patch of grass, looking up at the sun.

“So I was thinking of where to go for our next date,” she said.

“You… still want a next date? With me?”

She gasped in surprise. “Well of course! We didn’t finish our discussion on literary classics and how they shape society through subconscious exposure.”

“What?”

She grinned. “Reading volumes of the same ongoing graphic novel since you were a kid and wanting to be a warrior in ancient China.”

“Oh,” he allowed, smiling at his feet for a moment. He looked back at her. “Where do you want to go?”

“How are you at bowling?”

“Bowling?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes. I’m _terrible_ , so no pressure,” she grinned. “Want to go sometime?”

“ _Yes_ ,” he urged with a smile. “I know a good place.”

“You already go? That’s not fair - you’ll be better than me.”

“I’m very bad. But my friends are better, so we can both be bad at bowling but good at watching them,” he said with a cheeky smile.

She chuckled, leaning back against the wall. “Yes we can.”

“You want to go with them or just us?”

“Hmm… do I want to meet some of your friends…?” she mused. “Yes, yes I do. When do we go?”

“Uh - weekend. No office in the morning,” he said.

“Well it _is_ my turn to get a weekend off, so… Good idea. I think after last night I need a few days just to do boring things. Then when we go out I’ll feel normal again.”

“Friday?”

“Friday,” she nodded. “Oh no wait - I have a thing Friday. How about… Thursday? Then it’s only a Friday at work until weekend freedom.”

“Ok - Thursday,” he nodded.

“Cab or your bike?”

“Mmm - bike.”

“Agreed.” She sipped her coffee, then sighed in satisfaction. “Seriously - this is _good_.”

He looked at her over the rim of his mug. “As long as you like it.”

“I really do.” She sipped again. “So you never did finish the story - what happened to the orphan and the son? In the graphic novel?”

“Oh, they are many volumes,” he said. “So many things happen.”

“Like what?”

He smiled, and she settled into smelling her coffee and listening to him explain stories of far away lands in a way that made his eyes light up as if he were there.

ooOoo

Lenore sat back, closing her eyes for just a moment. She felt her head dip and snapped it back upright. “I need sleep,” she moaned, getting up from her working-from-home desk and looking at the far door to her bedroom longingly. She sighed and made herself go instead to the coffee pot still innocently catching drips from her tiny machine on the kitchen counter.

Her phone buzzed. She poured out her coffee first, leaving it black and sweetener-free. Then she made the effort to cross the kitchen and pick up the offending article.

‘ _Britt Reid_

_1 message_ ’

“Why haven’t I changed your name to ‘asshole’?” she muttered, opening the message.

‘ _Haven’t opened door to cellar. Think she’s ok. Do I give her food?_ ’

She rolled her eyes, then pressed the phone symbol next to the text. It rang and rang, finally giving a click. “Britt?”

“Hey!”

“Stop talking and listen,” she said evenly. “Has she had anything since last night?”

“Nothing! I swear!”

“Then take her like a litre of water and something simple, like bread. _Do not_ let her see you and _do not_ speak - not one word, do you hear me?”

“Alright! Ok! I’ll do it!”

“Good. Text me when it’s done. And _do not_ take her to the bathroom. Leave her a bucket and some toilet paper.”

“What? Hey - she’s a classy broad, she shouldn’t—”

“I guarantee she’ll try to escape, Britt. Just do it.” She waited but he didn’t speak. “Ok?”

“Yeah, ok - got it,” he said, sounding crestfallen.

She sighed. “I’m sorry if I snapped. But I was up literally all night knocking up a cover story for you and proving the DA was dead.”

“And you were awesome! _Oh my god_ you were awesome!” he cried. “I can’t believe you, Lenore! You just made all that shit up from like nowhere! I am so impressed!”

“And you’re lucky I’m on your side,” she said. “Gotta go. Water, bread, bucket. Ok?”

“Got it. I won’t do a single other thing without your say-so.”

“Thank you.” She cut the call, putting the phone down. She looked at her watch, then picked up the phone again. She texted quickly with her thumb, already sipping the coffee but knowing it was not going to perk her up one bit. She pressed Send and let the phone fall to the table, turning away for the laptop.

It buzzed. She huffed and turned back, picking it up.

Under her message was another one. She read them both.

‘ _Did you text Amy? Is she ok?_ ’

The answer underneath made her grin: ‘ _She said we go bowling on Thursday._ ’

Her thumb went over the keys. ‘ _Good. Now don’t screw it up. She’s nice._ ’ She walked back to the laptop, checking the time again and thinking that maybe six in the evening was a perfectly reasonable time to pass out face down on her bed, considering the night and day she had had.

Her phone buzzed. She lifted it to read the new message.

‘ _I will do my best. Lesson Saturday?_ ’

She tapped back: ‘ _As long as we’re all alive and well then yes_ ’

A thumbs-up appeared as a reply, and she smiled and put the phone down.

And then she really _did_ give up and go to bed.

ooOoo

Sapphire pulled out the office chair, sinking into it and propping her elbows on the desk. She let out a long, hard sigh as her head fell into her upturned hands.

“Hey - we got out, right? And the cops have no idea we were even there,” Charlie said, walking up to the table and sitting opposite her. He looked around the tiny office, making sure the door was closed.

“Yeah but I didn’t get the DA.”

“Maybe you shoulda got her instead of me. I mean I could have sat in overnight jail until you bailed me out, or whatever. It woulda been no sweat.”

She didn’t lift her head. “No. I don’t leave people behind.”

“And I appreciate that… but you could have come back the next day to not leave me behind, boss.”

Now she looked at him. “Charlie… Do you know why I trust only you?”

He shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “We go back a long way.”

“Yeah, we do. And the _reason_ we do is because you only ever have one thought - and it’s always about you and me surviving.”

“Gotta have a hobby,” he smiled.

She shook her head. “So what do we do now?” she sighed. Her back straightened and she melted in the chair, bouncing into the backrest. “The cops didn’t get the Hornet or his sidekick. I left the DA on the floor, and we’re back where we were - including the Hornet being alive, which we really do not want.”

“Has the boss… ordered a hit?” he asked carefully.

“She hasn’t - because she thought I’d handled it. Now I have to admit I failed and she’ll take it out on me and probably half the west coast.”

“Hey - _we_ failed,” he corrected. “I got gassed right in the face like a rookie.”

“She won’t see it that way. Captains take all the responsibility for everyone under them.”

“Yeah well that’s horseshit,” he tutted. “Anyway… we could just find this Green Hornet guy - and his little friend - and kill them both before she we catch her up on current events.”

“We’re going to have to,” she nodded.

He jumped suddenly, then felt in his jacket pocket. He fished out his phone, reading the alert on the display. His eyes went back up to her in surprise.

“What?” she demanded.

“News, boss - the DA is _dead_.”

“ _What?_ ” she gasped. Charlie tapped at a link and then reached across the table to hand her the phone. She read the article quickly, shaking her head. “That double-crossing…” She read it again, more slowly. “He went back for her! He made out we were all leaving, and then he went back for her! He killed her like he planned all along!”

“Then does he think the deal is back on?”

“He can’t do - I made it very clear I never wanted a deal in the first place and he’d be dead in short order.” She paused, slapping a hand into her forehead. “I _knew_ I should have just shot him right there and then.”

“We all make mistakes,” he said.

“Yeah well this time we fix ours - _before_ the boss finds out.”

“I heard that.” He stood slowly, and she handed him back the phone. “Where do we start?” he asked.

“First of all… someone has to know who this Hornet guy is. I don’t care if its a lowlife we have to get out on bail, or someone in hiding because he’s put the frighteners on them… _Someone_ has to have a clue who he is.”

“Your police and media contacts - they couldn’t find out?” he asked.

“They’ve got nothing. I mean they have tonnes of reports but they no leads to his ID or even what he actually looks like,” she grumped. She looked up at him. “I’m guessing Chudnofsky never shared any of his insight before the Hornet killed him?”

“Not a word. But… some of the others under him… they had run-ins with this guy. Maybe they know something.”

She nodded, getting up. “Alright - see what you can dig up. On the _quiet_ , Charlie - I don’t want anyone to know _why_ we want to know.”

“Sure.” He went to walk away but then came round the desk to her side. He landed a hand on her much lower shoulder. “We’ll get through this, ok? Just like every other time.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Charlie. Sometimes I just need to hear someone say that. Even if I don’t believe it.”

He patted, then walked off.

She flicked her hair back out of her eyes. “Right. Footage. There are tonnes of cop-cams around that party venue. They must have captured _something_.” Then she sat back and thought for a moment. “What are the odds…” She reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone, “…that at least _one_ of the journalists at that party…” She dialled a number with her thumb, “… got a quick picture of the Green Hornet before they ran for cover?” The line clicked. “Hey. Tell me you have pictures from last night.” She nodded. “Excellent. I want them all. Send them over. Usual channels.” She paused to listen. “Ask me if I give a shit for legalities. Do it.” She cut the call and grinned to herself.

ooOoo

Lenore knocked softly before walking into the small office, carrying her bag over her shoulder. She found Britt at his laptop, one hand under his chin, the elbow on the desk. His other hand was playing with the trackpad idly. He looked up.

“Oh morning!” he grinned. “Thought you were totally home-working now.”

“Normally,” she said, “but we need a war meeting. Where’s Kato?”

He looked down again, his face decidedly sad. “No idea. The dude just appears randomly.”

She eyed him, closing the door and picking up a spare chair from the corner of the room. She brought it up to his desk, sitting herself down. “You… ok?”

“Me? Pfff,” he scoffed. “How are you?”

“Mike said you looked a little down,” she hedged. “You _do_ look a little down.”

He re-arranged a few pens on the desk, watching his hands. “Nah - I’m good. I’m always good.” He looked up with a smile. “So what’s this war meeting for? Who are we going to war with?”

“Sapphire,” she said, opening up her bag and fishing out a notebook and pen. “We need to figure out what she wants and use it to draw her out - then get her arrested.”

“Right,” he said firmly, wagging a finger at her. “And her huge sidekick dude, too. He might have a grudge against us.”

“Why?”

“Well Kato kinda kicked him the face. It was _epic_ ,” he grinned. “And then at the party I shot him with gas.”

She clicked the pen and wrote something down on her pad. “Did you get a name?”

“Charlie,” he said.

She nodded. “Good, right, something to work with.” She paused to pull her phone out of her bag, firing off a text and putting it back. “So you met her and she showed you her underground operation?”

“Yeah - it was way cool,” he said enthusiastically. “Charlie said they had like sixty people down there, but we must have seen thirty. They were counting cash, bagging up pills and drugs - and they were boxing up bullets, too. No idea why when you can just buy those but hey.”

She nodded, scribbling. “What did she say?”

“She… said she didn’t need us, I said if she didn’t want us in her way then she had to let us in her operation or I’d make her life real difficult… If you can’t beat ‘em then let ‘em join kind of thing.”

“Oh. That’s good,” she said.

“Maybe I’m not an idiot _all_ the time.”

She paused and looked at him. “Britt… you are _not_ an idiot all the time. Sometimes you just… let things run away with you. Let them have their head and… that’s when things get messed up. Right?”

“Yeah I get it,” he said with discomfort, sitting back in the chair.

Her phone buzzed and she picked it up, reading it quickly. “Kato’s in your garage - he’s tinkering with something.”

Britt’s head tilted and his smile was a sad one. “Yeah. I was a bit of dick to him and I think he’s still mad at me.”

“You’re _admitting_ you were a bit of a dick?” she asked, surprised.

“Yeah I know, right?” he said ruefully. “I kinda was though. I wanted him to have a nice time at the party, ok? Get to know that Amy girl, maybe get a little action. He _has_ been cranky lately.”

She rolled her eyes. “So why would that piss him off?”

“Because after the whole party fiasco went down and he took you home…” He sighed. “It was my fault he was up all night putting things straight.” He eyed her. “And I didn’t check my plan with you, and it was stupid, and it nearly went really _really_ bad. And… that’s on me. It’s always on me, and…”

“Britt.”

“No, I…” He shrugged. “When Dad was alive I just kinda partied all the time, you know? And there were no consequences, no fall-out. And then… Then he’s gone and now I’m pretending I’m a responsible person.” He looked at her. “It’s _hard_.”

“Yes, it is,” she said, but there was no anger in it. “Look… Being an adult sucks, ok? I know that. But you have friends now, not just one-night stands and random phone numbers in your cellphone.”

“Friends? I have Mike who tries to be nice to me but I know he thinks I’m still the screw-up who nearly ruined this entire media empire of my dad’s. And Kato tolerates me because I give him access to cool toys and work benches where he can play with rockets and Hornet gas. And you - you’re only here because we need to talk about the Green Hornet. If he didn’t exist and you were my PA? You would _never_ speak to me out of work.”

She curled hair around her ear, sighing to herself. “The truth is… you’re not a bad person, Britt. Just stop trying to hit on everyone all the time and you’ll be amazed how you get on with people.”

He smiled. “Maybe that would be an idea.”

“And Kato doesn’t just tolerate you. I think sometimes…” She bit her lip.

“What? What’s he said?”

“He hasn’t - you know what he’s like. But sometimes you do things and he’s… well he’s hurt, ok?” she said, looking at him with piercing eyes.

“When? Me and him are supposed to be bros, right? Why would I try to hurt him?”

“You don’t mean to, Britt. But… Like when you forgot to invite him to the party.”

“I didn’t! I didn’t invite him because we do all the work stuff together anyway!”

“But he didn’t even know there _was_ a party. Maybe he felt that… he felt that you didn’t want him there because you wanted the DA there instead.”

Britt stared at her in disbelief. “That’s what _he_ said when we argued about dates - that’s not how it is, man! I _told_ him that! And I ask him to hang out all the time but he’s got friends he drinks with or something.”

“Have you ever wondered why he’d say no to hanging out with you after work?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah! Like all the time!”

“Then just _ask_ him. Talk to him about something that’s not work or the Hornet.”

“I’ve tried but he just makes the excuse that his English sucks and walks away - and I know his English doesn’t suck because he swears at me just fine.”

She couldn’t help smiling. “Speak to him, please. You two have to work together and it’d be so much easier if you were friends again.”

He raised his hands. “Hey - I will. You know what? We’ll do this plan of yours and if we don’t die then me and him will do bro-bonding stuff, ok?”

“Ok,” she said. “Now, tell me about Sapphire. Did she mention anyone else’s name, or who she worked with, anything like that?”

He thought about it. And then he tried to explain everything he had seen underground.

ooOoo

“Boss?” Charlie said, knocking on the door.

“Yeah Charlie,” she said, pre-occupied.

He walked in, an iPad in his hand. “We’re ready to ship the first ten boxes of ammo to Nguyen,” he said.

“Ahead of schedule?”

“I might have told our guys to hurry,” he said, taking the iPad to her and handing it over.

She took it and read the inventory, nodding. “Perfect. She was moaning about how she hadn’t had any armour-piercing cop-killers since Chudnofsky went down. Now she can shut up and pay us.”

“You want me to check with the Russians, try again to get them to buy from us?”

“Yeah, do it. Tell them they can have seven-day terms.”

“Seven?”

“Well they got COD with Chudnofsky, so they should jump at this.”

“Got it.” He took the iPad back and went to the door. He paused. “Oh - that other thing. Still listening out. So far zip - no-ones knows him, even people who’ve had a visit and weren’t happy about it.”

“Yeah - the traffic cams at the place weren’t working that night,” she said. “ _Very_ suspicious.”

“Well he has a cool car with all those toys. Maybe he fixed the cameras too.”

“Yeah.” She sat back, rubbing her forehead. “Ok, so… no footage. No sight of him entering or leaving the building. Nothing _inside_ the building. Nothing on the car number plate, nothing on the gas he shot you with, nothing to indicate how he even knew the party was going down.” She looked at the desk. “The police files from my guy are useless, and the Sentinel stuff is like what they’ve printed in the paper plus outtakes. Again - nada.”

Charlie swung his hands out in surrender. “What about the DA’s phone - would that help us?”

“Been there, tried it,” she sighed. “Got her cell number from our friend in the DA’s office, then used our guy in the phone company to track it. She must have had a burner that night - we got nothing. We will never know where she was killed or if the Green Hornet’s hide-away is nearby.”

“So… anything we _can_ do?”

“I guess we go back and check the traffic cams on the routes to and from the venue that night - and how everyone got there in the first place. He could have been someone’s plus one, hiding in plain sight.”

He nodded. “I’m on it. I think there were about three hundred guests so it may take a while - but I’ll get something.”

“Thanks, Charlie.”

He nodded and walked out. She went back to the laptop in front of her, staring again at the media pictures relating to the party - and again trying to discern whose cars were parked out back.


	8. Chapter 8

Britt came through the garage entrance, ducking under something that looked like a large round exhaust pipe made of corrugated plastic. “What’s this?”

“Don’t touch it!” called a voice.

He looked around but couldn’t see anyone. “Kato? Where are you?”

“Up here.”

He looked straight up and found the man in question wrapped around a metal strut near the ceiling. It joined the roof at forty-five degrees, the way he was leaning into it as he worked making him look not entirely unlike a leopard burdened with great concentration. He had a wrench in his right hand, currently tightening some kind of large nut. Britt blinked. “What are you building now, man?”

“Connecting… the extract pipe so… when gas goes off… it is safe in here.”

“Right, well…” He turned to go. Then he stopped and huffed. His hands went into his pockets and he looked up again. “You still mad at me for being a dick?”

“Yep.”

“Ok, so… The party. I didn’t invite you. And you’re upset.”

Silence.

“Because you think I’m looking for a best friend and you’re not it, so I’m just hanging with you until I get a better friend.”

“Something like that.” Kato finished tightening the nut. He put the leather tag on the end of the handle of the wrench in his teeth, then reached out and pushed at the top of the exhaust pipe, checking it was secure.

“Well I’m not, ok? I thought _we_ were best friends. I know I’m an ass and I know I make you angry but it’s only because… Well since we’ve been doing this gig you’ve always…” He huffed. “Look, would you come down from there? I can’t talk to you while you’re King Kong-ing the infrastructure in the ceiling.”

Kato didn’t look at him. Instead he put both gloved hands to the holes cut into the strut, climbing down until he dropped gracefully to the floor. He took the wrench from his teeth. “What do you want?”

Britt looked at his dusty, grease-stained overalls, and waved a hand at him. “Man… you’re like a ninja, ok? Who can weld stuff and make stuff and do cool kung fu stuff and…” He sagged. “And I’m not. You’ve always been better than me and… and that’s why I kinda… sometimes I say the wrong thing, ok? But it’s just cos I want to be the cool one for a change.”

Kato folded his arms, studying him critically. “Have you been drinking?”

“No!” Britt heaved. “And that’s another thing - tell me why I keep asking you to hang out - like go for a drink - and you just disappear with your _real_ friends?”

Kato waved a hand up. “I’m too busy for this.” He went to walk away.

“Hey - no, wait,” Britt said, grabbing his elbow. Kato yanked it free and glared at him. Britt put both palms up as if to show they were empty. “Tell me, dude, come on. You don’t want to be my friend now? Is that it?”

“We are not friends,” Kato accused, pointing at him. “Friends know the favourite bars and the hobbies, and friends don’t leave stuff for the other to do because they think they are just the hired help!”

“What are you even talking about?”

“I do everything around here or it’s not done at all!” he cried angrily. “I make all the weapons and the safety things, and you just break them and forget about them - and then I have to fix them!”

“I thought you _liked_ playing with all the stuff in here?”

“I do but this is not fair!”

“Ok, alright,” he soothed. “So I break your toys and never even try to fix them. I get it.”

“And you tell people I work for you!”

“I _have_ to because it’s the cover story,” Britt urged. “I can’t tell them we’re partners in crime, can I?”

“That’s not it - you look down on me because you’re the rich boy and I just fix things!”

“What?” he gasped, floored. He backed up a step. “You think _that’s_ what this is?”

Kato folded his arms again, his jaw sticking out. “We can’t go to the good bars I know because you will complain about them being small or not as classy as the places you go to,” he said firmly. “I know you will look down on them because they are not as cool or expensive or - or - special - as yours. But it’s where I go and I like them, so maybe _I’m_ not as cool or expensive as you, and that’s why you look down on _me_. That’s why you say asshole things to me and don’t even know they’re asshole things to say.”

He turned and walked off.

Britt stared at the floor. He scratched his head for a long moment. Hearing a noise behind him, he turned to see Kato climbing steadily up another stanchion, his gloves and boots sticking into the cut-outs of the metal as he headed to the ceiling. Britt sighed. He looked up at him, watching him arrange another part of the exhaust pipe, then put the leather strap of the wrench in his teeth to fish a nut out of the top pocket of his overalls. “Look, dude… I don’t look down on you, ok? I never have.”

“Whatever.”

“Please listen to me,” he said quietly. “Just… please?”

Kato paused. He turned and watched him, finding him with his hands in his pockets, looking at the floor. He took the wrench from his teeth.

“I want to hang out with you and go to the little dives you know and hear all your cool stories. Because all my stories are about picking up women and not having any real friends.” Britt sighed. “Can we just try one of the bars you like? I will not even speak the whole night if you want. I just… You’re a _dude_ , ok? You’re a brick. And I’m not - I’m not reliable like you. I’ve wasted my life to the point where I can’t even make friends. I had more friends when I was a kid at school.” He paused. “And… and I don’t care if something isn’t expensive or swanky or posh or whatever - some of the coolest places I’ve been to have been like tiny holes in the wall where everything is… not new - like it’s vintage cool shit, right? But everyone always thinks I go through money like alcohol. —I mean, I do, I guess. But it’s not because I like expensive stuff, it’s… I just want everyone to have a good time, right? And then it gets out of hand. But… I just wanted _us_ to hang out somewhere that _you_ know, somewhere you’re comfortable, on your turf so… so you’re at least _happy_ for once.” He sighed. “I’m always like hyped up on the tiniest little thing I see that I think is suddenly the coolest thing in the world - and you’re always just like…” He waved his arms out in helplessness. “You’ve seen all this before, or… the little things don’t get you excited or happy, and…” He frowned. “I mean… I can see why we’re not really friends. We’re just… too different.” He shrugged. “I just wanted to like get a drink, talk shit about stuff only we know… you know, do buddy things.”

It was silent for a long moment. Eventually Britt looked up.

Kato considered him. “I can’t.”

“Really?”

“I just can’t.”

Britt nodded sadly. “Ok. Well… at least we’re not shouting any more. So… we just… We’re just work colleagues, right?”

“No, I mean I can’t.”

“Yeah I heard you.”

“I have a date tonight and Saturday I have Lenore and a game, so I can’t. Maybe next week.”

Britt thought for a moment. Then he grinned. “You have a date tonight? Awesome! Is it Amy again?”

Kato let a small smile hijack the side of his face. “Yes.”

“Good for you! See? Cool things happen to you all the time.”

“It was a good party,” he allowed.

“Wait - you have a _date_ with Lenore Saturday too?”

“No - a lesson. Then afterwards I have Mahjong.”

“A lesson? Is she teaching you English?”

Kato rolled his eyes. “That was one of those asshole things you should not say.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Britt realised. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant what is she teaching you? Date stuff?”

“I teach _her_ ,” he said curtly. “Piano.”

Britt threw his hands out in desperation. “And there you go again! Being all awesome and knowing tonnes of cool shit!”

Kato shrugged. “The piano teacher in the orphanage gave us extra food if we did well in lessons.”

Britt winced. “Wow. Ok, so… Next week? Which bar? Like a tiny one, all neons and underground secret drinks bottles with no labels?”

“If you want.”

“Well ok then!” he cried happily, clapping his hands together. “So - friends again?”

“If you try not to say the asshole things.”

“I promise,” he said, saluting faithfully.

Kato shook his head, smiling. “What did Lenore say about Sapphire and the DA?”

“Ye-ah… you might want to come down from there. We need a drink to talk about it. —Oh, speaking of: I have something for you.”

ooOoo

Kato wandered into the study, wiping his hands on a rag. “Hi.”

Lenore looked over her shoulder at him, her hands moving a laptop around the large wooden table in the middle of the room. “Hey. Everything ok?”

He walked up to her, mindful of Britt on the other side of the room, mixing drinks. He lowered his voice. “I think Britt is sick.”

“Why?” she whispered.

“He was talking about feelings and he was trying to be a grown-up,” he whispered back.

Lenore straightened up, grinning. “Well that would make a welcome change.”

He smiled, going down the side of the table and sniffing to himself. “What are we doing?” he asked the room.

“War meeting,” Britt called over. “Stage two. Our incredible planning genius has worked out the Hornet’s strategy for Sapphire’s epic take-down, and she’s about to do a Show and Tell so we know where he’s supposed to be.”

Kato pulled out a chair, settling himself and stuffing the rag in his top overalls pocket. “And what are you doing?”

“I’m making drinks,” he said brightly, then turned and carried two over. “A sparkling alcohol-free punch for the planning genius.” He set it down in front of Lenore. Then he turned and put down a large ceramic mug in front of Kato. “And tea for the gadgets genius.”

Kato sniffed casually, appraising the mug. Then he picked it up, smelling it carefully. “Where you get this?”

“I asked Henry and then the pool guy who the delivery dude is who brings the not-car stuff for you. He said you always go through the same guy, so I found him and asked him your favourite drink. And he said you always buy that one. I made him tell me how to make it, too.” He paused. “Is it ok?”

“Old Man Fung?” Kato asked, surprised. “You got Old Man Fung to tell you how to make Oo Long tea?”

“So I had to pay him a bit of cash, who cares?” Britt breezed. “The important question is - is it any good?”

Kato just looked at him for a long moment. Then he sipped it, letting it roll around his mouth. He let a mere suggestion of surprise flit across his face before he shrugged casually. “It’s ok.”

Britt grinned proudly, then went back to the drinks trolley in the corner. Kato checked he wasn’t watching, then sipped his tea again, enjoying the taste of it. He flicked his eyes up to see Britt pick up his own glass from the trolley - short and half full of whisky, by the looks of it.

“Don’t let your staff throw the tea leaves down the sink,” Kato said. “It blocks the drains.”

“Dude, I got most of the staff new jobs in some other company,” he scoffed as he came back to the table. “I’m cleaning this room up after us.”

Kato set the mug down with a dull _slap_. “Ok - who are you and where is Britt Reid?”

Lenore sat down, watching Britt as she picked up her drink and tried it. She blinked, surprised it was good.

Britt shrugged. “I had to, right? They can’t be in here, listening to what we’re planning or seeing who comes and goes. There’s like two ladies left in the kitchen and stores, and Henry now does the utilities and stuff. They get a cleaner in once a week but that’s it.”

“What about the pool guy?” Kato asked.

“Oh yeah - kept him. I mean we need to have pool parties soon, right?”

Kato and Lenore looked at each other. Then Kato cleared his throat, raising his eyebrows at her. “Show and Tell?”

She smiled. “Right well - Britt gave me all the info on your visit to Sapphire’s underground place the other night. I’ve managed to get some info together, and that’s helped me come up with all this.”

“Lay it on us,” Britt said, sitting in the chair opposite Kato. He pulled out a notebook and clicked a pen to life.

Kato stared. Then he sipped his tea, determined to pay attention.

Lenore was opening up a manilla folder to show colour photographs. “Ok, so you said Charlie was her right-hand man. I did some digging and he’s been through the arrest system but never charged and always released on the forty-eight hours. Charles Peterson is his real name - he has links with various gangs but again the police never had any evidence. However, three of the times he was released with no charge it was to the same woman. She picked him up. There’s only one photo of her - they were in the background when someone else newsworthy was being released. Look.” She slid one photo across the table and the two men studied it.

A man in a black suit, flanked by attorneys or at least bodyguards, was walking down the steps from City Hall, his mouth open. It appeared to be a typical hot sunny LA day, with reporters and on-lookers crowding the shot. Just to the right, behind everyone, another man was walking down the steps, and next to him was a woman - with green hair.

“Sapphire,” Britt said. “That’s her.”

“According to the log her name is Sarah Fellows.” She sat back. “Once I had her name it didn’t take long to dig up a few other things about her. A few years ago she was arrested - but never charged - on suspicion of murder. It was a gangland hit on behalf of your old friend Chudnofsky. Considering how important it was she must have been pretty high up in his organisation.” She picked up her drink to sip it. “A year ago she was considered to be running some kind of cartel out of San Fransisco, possibly due to Chudnofsky taking over more and more areas of LA. Once he was dead, she re-appeared like literally overnight, and now my guess is she’s consolidating everything that Chudnofsky had.”

“So she is the new leader?” Kato asked.

“I think so. It’s my theory that she has rounded up all of Chudnofsky’s labs and people, and she’s whipping them back into a team. That’s why she wants the DA dead.”

Kato nodded. “Ok. So how do we get her to do something she can be arrested for?”

Lenore smiled. “We take out some of her underlings. When her circle of lieutenants starts to shrink she’ll be forced to do more and more herself. At some point she’s going to have to come for the Hornet direct - and that’s when we’ll stage something to get her arrested. And the Hornet and you escape, of course.”

“That’s fantastic,” Britt grinned. “We basically take out hits on her dudes till there’s none left?”

“That’s it,” Lenore nodded.

“Now _that’s_ a plan. I love it!” Britt gushed. He looked at Kato. “What do you think?”

“You’re asking me?” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah man - that’s what _partners_ do, right?”

Kato’s mouth worked for a moment. Then he looked at Lenore. “I think we do it.”

“Yes!” Britt hissed, slapping the table. He looked at her too. “Ok, so who’s first and how do you want this handled? Rockets, egregious kung fu battles, incapacitated bad guys, a name card on their heads and we roar off into the dawn before the cops can catch us?”

She giggled. “Exactly that, yes.”

“Ok then!” He clapped his hands together, rubbing. “Then we move tonight. After dark, right?”

“Tomorrow,” she said. “From the electric bills on the place, Friday overnight is a busy night, but Thursday not so much. Here,” she said, passing another photograph across the table. “The first one is Nguyen. She’s a coke processor on Trendle Street. Get in there, blow the place to pieces, set fire to stuff - the whole nine yards. Make sure you leave a calling card for the cops. I want it big - all over the papers tomorrow,” she grinned.

“You’re enjoying this,” Britt said, wagging a finger at her.

“I am when it’s drug dealers you’re taking out.”

Kato pulled the photo toward him, picking it up and then turning it, his head tilting. “Ok. I check the place out and the escape routes in case we need some.” He sipped his tea. “And prep everything on back-up Beauty number one.”

“Dude - you have to give them names,” Britt said. “You can’t just call her ‘back up car number one’.”

“Ok, how about…” He paused, his eyes going up the wall to his left side. Then he looked at Britt. “ _You_ name it.”

“Really?” he asked, clearly excited. Kato shrugged. Britt looked at Lenore, then back at Kato. “Then… I’ll think about it.”

“I’ll get started,” Kato said, getting up.

“Whoa dude - it’s like two in the afternoon. The operation’s not till tomorrow night,” Britt said.

“I have things to do and I have to go to your office first. What time do we move?”

“Ah… midnight. Midnight?” he asked Lenore. She nodded.

“Ok.” Kato drained the mug then set it down on the table. “This tea? It’s not so bad.” He turned and walked out of the room. The door swung softly shut behind him.

Britt waited.

And waited.

Then he looked at Lenore. “It’s working,” he whispered.

“What is?” she asked with a smile.

“The friends thing! He makes me coffee all the time at work, so now I’m making him tea, right? Isn’t that what friends do?”

She grinned as she got to her feet, collecting up all the files and shuffling them into one pile. “It’s working. Just… don’t overdo it, ok? A little tiny thing, once a day. You’re already freaking him out.”

“Got it,” he nodded. He got up and flipped his notebook closed. “I’m going to clean up the drinks trolley and read those files again, think about tomorrow night.”

“Ok,” she said, handing him the batch. He grinned and began to flip through them.

ooOoo

The motorbike was amused and quite delighted to be brought to a stop in the parking lot of the bowling complex. Kato turned the key and took it out. He looked almost over his shoulder. “Here we are.”

“I’m nervous,” Amy admitted, taking her arms from round him and getting off the back.

“They are my friends,” he said. “You will be ok.”

“And they know I can’t bowl, right?” she said as she undid the chin strap on her helmet.

He swung off the bike, smiling as he undid his own. “It’s not like that. You’ll see.”

She handed him her helmet and he put them both in the lockbox at the back. “Ok. Let’s do this,” she said clearly, but she bit her lip as she looked past his shoulder to the front door.

He looked round at the front door, then back at her. “If you want to… we can go somewhere else.”

She looked at him. “No - let’s go. It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine,” she nodded, as if to herself. She ran her hands through her hair and then walked off toward the door.

He caught her up to open it for her, and she smiled shyly before walking through. They found themselves in the lobby area, people to-ing and fro-ing, swapping shoes or carrying cardboard drinks trays. He took her hand, offered her an encouraging smile, and walked them down past the counter to see the many lanes at work.

At least twelve lanes were full, the decor old but apparently loved, with groups of people cheering or booing their fellow bowlers. Kato spotted someone in the middle lane and bounced her hand in his, getting her attention. She pushed him in front of her and they wended their way down in single file toward the busy lane.

Four people were already there, in various cut-off tees, Hawaiian shirts and board shorts, somewhat incongruous against the bowling shoes they had on. Two men and two women, all smiles and friendly rivalry, they were bantering about something in Chinese as the two newcomers arrived.

“Hey,” Kato said loudly.

The man in front of him turned. “K _Ger!_ ” he cried in Chinese, putting a hand up. Kato slapped his palm into his, and they pulled on each other, patting at backs with their free hands. He pushed him back, noticing someone standing some way behind him. “Thought you weren’t coming, man,” he added in English.

“Here I am,” Kato said with a smile. The other three crowded round, getting in high-fives or a fist bump. “And this is Amy.”

She waved nervously. The four of them waved back and a chorus of ‘hello’s went up.

“Amy - this is Jack,” Kato said, gesturing to the man who had just greeted him. “And his girlfriend Emma.” The woman waved. “Fung,” he added, indicating the other, taller man behind them all, who waved. “And his wife Siu-Ching.”

“Hi!” she said, reaching through them all and shaking Amy’s hand. “So good to have another girl on the team!”

“Oh - I’m terrible, trust me,” she said quickly.

Siu-Ching laughed. “That’s the point, dude.” She elbowed the others aside and came closer, her Nirvana t-shirt and board shorts making Amy smile. “So has he told you how it works down here?”

“Uh - no,” she said carefully.

“I thought we could play and she will see - it will be easier,” Kato said.

“Yeah,” Siu-Ching shrugged. “Ok - you two get shoes. We’ll set up who plays first. And get us some drinks. Your turn, K _Ger_ \- you owe us for last week.”

Kato shrugged. “It’s hard being me.”

They laughed and Siu-Ching pushed at his chest, making him stand back. She went back to the three others and they began chatting and ordering. Kato looked at Amy and gestured behind them with his head, and she followed him back up to the main counter.

Shoes swapped and two cardboard carry trays of beer later, and they were making their way back down to the lane. Kato set his tray of four plastic cups down and then took Amy’s from her, making sure it went on the other side of the lane where Jack and Emma were sitting.

Jack was saying something in Chinese to Emma, but then paused and changed to English as he spotted Amy, Kato, and the beer. “Why are you all dressed up tonight anyway?”

Kato looked down at his white shirt and black jeans, his thin black tie now loose and his top two buttons undone. “Work clothes.”

“Yeah right,” Siu-Ching said, elbowing her husband Fung. “ _Someone’s_ trying to impress his date and board shorts don’t cut it.”

Everyone laughed but Kato put a hand to the back of his head, rubbing in embarrassment.

Siu-Ching pointed at him in surprise. “Wait - she _is_ your date? Not a bowling friend?” she gasped.

“Whoa,” Jack said, his hands out. “You didn’t say this was a date night!”

Kato’s face was rapidly turning red as his mouth worked. Amy looked around at them, scrutinising Kato as if they had misplaced their microscopes. She swallowed. “We didn’t want to make it weird,” she said hastily.

They blinked at her. “Oh no, it’s fine,” Siu-Ching said. “It’s just that…” She paused and looked at the other three.

Fung spoke up from the back. “Well… we’ve never seen him with a date.”

“Or a _maybe_ -date,” Jack put in.

“Or a chance,” Emma added.

Amy gave a nervous smile. “Maybe… he’s more shy than even _me_.”

The four of them laughed out loud, some kind of cloud above their heads breaking and releasing all the tension as good humour. Amy felt herself start to relax. She glanced at Kato to see the red gradually draining from his face.

Siu-Ching clapped her hands as if to bring order to the night. “Ok - that changes things. Date Night go first, followed by Still Just Dating, followed by Married So It’s Too Late.”

Amy giggled, putting a hand over her mouth. “Are those your team names?”

“They are tonight,” Siu-Ching winked, then waved her over. “Come here, dude - you sit at the front, pride of place. And tell us something about you. Your boyfriend K _Ger_ has a mouth tighter than my husband’s wallet.”

“Hey!” Fung protested.

She waved a hand over her shoulder at him in negation, already guiding Amy to sit at the foremost position. “That’s a real nice outfit, by the way,” she said, admiring the flowery pattern of green and red leaves on an off-white background, the very stylish dungarees putting her in mind of carefree, summer days. The polo shirt underneath was pastel green and enjoying the attention.

“Oh - uh - thanks,” Amy said brightly. “You know I was a bit nervous about meeting you all tonight.”

“Oh you’ll be fine,” Emma called over. “We don’t bite.”

“Well let’s get the drinks passed around, shall we?” Siu-Ching said. “And let’s get bowling. Hey - K _Ger_ \- stop loitering over there and come show Amy how bad you really are at this game.”

Kato smiled, going over to the cardboard trays first to hand out drinks.

“Why do you call him that?” Amy asked.

“Oh it’s a Chinese thing,” Siu-Ching shrugged. “Like a friend-cum-brother, but his name starts with a K.”

She ‘oh’ed as Kato picked up another drink and took it over to Amy, winking at her and taking his jacket off.

“Whoo - it’s on now!” Jack teased. “Can he beat his score of eleven!”

“Eleven?” Amy echoed.

“That’s how _we_ play the game - highest score _loses_ ,” Emma laughed.

“Loses?” she asked, confused.

“It’s like karaoke, right?” Siu-Ching grinned. “No-one goes because they can actually _sing_.”

Amy grinned. “Oh I _see_.”

Kato picked up a bowling ball, gripping it carefully and looking at Amy. “Ready?”

She giggled. “Do it.”

He grinned and turned to the alley.


	9. Chapter 9

Britt glanced at his watch, finding it nearly ten at night. He steeled himself, nodding and making himself open the door a crack, looking in. He studied the woman on the blankets, finding her head still covered with a rather expensive American football helmet, the grating all blanked out from the inside with duct tape. The bottom was latched tight, some kind of leather strap going round the edge to be padlocked shut. Her right hand was still handcuffed to a thick pipe in the wall, her other cushioned against her shoulder as she slept. He crept over, watching for signs of trouble, but all he heard was her gentle breathing.

He set down the tray, about to back away.

“Please,” she said, her voice muffled by the helmet and tape. “Please - you can still let me go. I haven’t even seen your face.”

He backed up, both hands over his mouth.

“At least tell me your demands,” she said, louder.

He went back up to her, taking her hand gently. She gasped but he just moved it until it made contact with the tray of smoothies and subs. He let go, backing up as quietly as he could.

“Or just kill me. This place is really uncomfortable.”

He frowned. Then he stood straighter. “Just another few days.”

“What?” she demanded angrily, sitting up. “What? Who are you - what do you want?”

He swallowed and hurried back through the door, slamming it shut. He bolted everything and set the alarm again.

Then he turned and leant his back on it, shaking his head. “Well, if nothing else, this time off from work is probably good for her.”

And then he wiped his hands over his face and walked off, determined to go to sleep and not think about the DA in the wine cellar.

ooOoo

Amy’s eyes creaked open but within half a second a huge smile spread over her face like warm chocolate sauce over ice cream. She pushed herself from her front onto her side, looking around her bedroom. Feeble morning sun was trying to come in under the curtains, casting just enough light to point out the way clothes had been strewn carelessly around the furniture. Her bra was reclining comfortably on the chair by her dresser, her polo shirt and dungarees taking a rest on the floor by its feet. A man’s white shirt was on top, the bent up collar trying to project an air of innocence she might have believed had she not been the reason for the garment being there in the first place.

She drew in a deep breath as she gathered sheets around her tighter, snuggling down and sighing in complete satisfaction.

The door to the _en suite_ bathroom door opened and she turned her head to look toward it. She spotted Kato coming back from the smallest room. Her eyes were drawn to the fact that all he had on was a pair of black, rather pleasingly form-fitting shorts. He climbed into bed and she turned over to watch him get comfortable on his back.

“What time is it?” she yawned.

“Six. I always wake up at six.”

“Why?”

He wiped at his face. “Routine, I think. To go to the gym.”

“You’re not going _this_ morning, are you?”

“I will be late. I have to go home and get my kit first.”

She smiled wickedly. “You _honestly_ thought we would go bowling last night, and then I’d let you just go home afterwards?”

“Yes,” he said innocently. “When I said I would drop you home… I did not expect you to ask me in.”

“And?”

“… And then I didn’t expect to stay.”

“I’ll let you into a secret,” she whispered. He tilted his head to look at her, and she shuffled up closer. “Normally? No, I would not. It takes me _weeks_ to get to even the coming-in-when-you’re-dropping-me-off stage.” She sighed. “But… I don’t know why… I just didn’t want you to go yet - like we weren’t done, we needed more time. I wanted you to stay so we could talk some more. And then I wanted you to _stay-_ stay.”

“What’s the difference?”

She giggled. “This bed.”

He looked at the ceiling. “Oh.”

She scooted closer to his side and ran a hand over his chest. “Tell me… why _do_ you go to the gym every day?”

“Not every day. I give myself weekends off,” he said cheekily.

“Why go at all?”

“Mmm - to give me a reason to get up. To… make a habit every day so that I can… I can feel comfortable.”

She slid her fingers over him, appreciating their travels. “Well I’m impressed that you have the discipline to make yourself do that, day after day. —And with the results.”

He put his hand up and captured hers, spreading it against his skin and holding it still as he sent the ceiling a curious frown. “I think… under all the beautiful you… there’s another one. And it’s also beautiful.”

She blinked. “Thank you.” She pushed closer, then slid herself on top of him. He looked up at her as she let her knees fall either side of his, her elbows planting themselves in the bed by his shoulders. Her hands went into his hair and tousled it free of his eyes. He slid his hands up her sides lazily to hold her still. She smiled. “I had a good time last night.”

“I hope so,” he said earnestly. “I tried very hard.”

She burst out laughing. “No! I mean the bowling!”

“Oh!” he blurted. A tinge of red came to his face as he smiled awkwardly and looked past her shoulder. “Ok.”

She was still giggling. “You are funny, Kato. And you’re _fun_. People in the office think you’re in a bad mood a lot, but they just don’t know you.”

“Britt makes me angry,” he sighed.

“Is it hard working for him?”

“ _Yes_. He always thinks he’s the boss of me.”

She stroked at his chin. “Well you remember - he may be your boss but that doesn’t make him _better_ than you.”

His head tilted to one side as he appraised her. Her hand played with his hair, waiting, as her other fingers stroked at his chin, enjoying the slight scratch of stubble. Finally his mouth opened. “You’re like my friend. She tells me good things about me - makes me believe them. And then I have a better day.”

She smiled. “Who is this friend?”

“Miss Case - she is Britt’s PA but she’s my friend.”

“Oh… Lenore, right? She sent me a friend request on social media - I thought it was because we work together and we have half the Sentinel as mutuals. She seems nice - and if you say she is then she must be.”

“She’s _very_ nice - all the time, to everyone. Even when she isn’t nice to you… it’s because she wants nice things for you. —And she helps me a lot.”

“And people don’t help you?”

“Not usually.”

Her smile dimmed. “You have… done amazing things with your life, Kato. All by yourself. And you don’t _need_ anyone’s help, but… it’s nice to have it.” She paused. “You’ll always have mine.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Because I go to the gym?”

She grinned. “No, because… you’re fun, and you’re thoughtful, and… I think you can be very sweet when you don’t realise it.”

“Sweet?” he frowned.

“Yes. Like… last night. When we came out of the bowling alley and it was cooler than we thought. You offered me your jacket.”

“You were colder than me. It was only fair.”

“See?” she teased. “Sweet.”

“Britt says ‘sweet’ is what the woman says when she doesn’t want to date you but doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well Mr Reid doesn’t know anything about women then.”

“I think you’re right.”

She grinned and her hands went into his hair behind his ears. “I think we should stay right here and make good use of this bed again so you won’t _need_ to go to the gym this morning. Then we can go to work and pretend we’re just cold professionals doing our jobs.”

“You want me to skip the gym?”

“Just this one morning. Will you? For me? I promise this is the only time I’ll ask you to break your routine.”

He leant his chin out and she kissed him, feeling one of his hands slide into the small of her back to press her against him. He shifted his knee; she grinned and bit at his mouth.

There was a beep and a buzz.

His left eye popped open. She pulled her head back. “No,” she said sternly, watching his other eye open too.

“It might be work.”

“No!” she cried. “No no no - it’s six o’clock in the freaking morning and you’re very busy!”

The phone started to ring. He opened his mouth, then just sighed and eased her off him. She slid to the mattress, watching him scoot across the bed and climb out. He snatched up his jeans from the floor and shook them until the phone fell out of the pocket. He scooped it up and looked at the name. His shoulders sagged abruptly.

She got off the bed, making sure she left all the sheets behind her. She felt the cool air of the room on every single inch of her bare skin. “Kato. Don’t you dare,” she warned. He looked back at her - she noticed his eyes went all the way down her, then back up. Slowly. He swallowed. She advanced on him, reaching for the phone in his hand.

He pulled it back, backing up to the wall as she closed on him. He found himself squashed up against the wallpaper with everything she had pressed against him.

He gulped in air. His thumb pressed the green button. He raised it to his ear.

She frowned. And then she slid her fingers up his neck, reaching up to him with her chin.

“Hey bro!” came Britt’s voice down the line. “Not an emergency, don’t worry. And like I know it’s super early but Lenore said you’d be up.”

Amy tipped his head down, kissing him.

The oblivious voice on the phone went on. “I need to ask you about some armour for—”

He pulled his mouth free. “I’m very busy!” he cried. He cut the call and dropped the phone, one hand going into her hair and kissing her back.

She gave an evil grin and pulled him back to the bed. She swung him round and pushed him over, laughing and aiming for him with a playful jump.

ooOoo

Britt looked at the phone in disgust. “Busy? At six in the morning?”

He dropped it to the bedside table and lounged in the sheets, putting his hands behind his head and sighing out a long breath.

“Body armour,” he mused. “Ooh - office first.” He whipped back the covers and climbed out of bed. He whistled his way through the house in his favourite blue silk pyjamas, finding the kitchen and picking up the carefully hand written instructions on how to use the coffee machine.

ooOoo

Lenore knocked on the office door, heard Kato’s voice, and opened it up. She looked in to find him at Britt’s laptop, tapping industriously. She smiled and walked in, closing it quietly behind her.

“Happy Friday,” she said. “Ready for the big thing tonight?”

“Yes,” he muttered, pre-occupied. Then he paused and looked up. “Sorry - I mean good morning. Still ok for piano tomorrow?”

“Of course,” she breezed, going to the empty chair opposite him and sitting down. “Did you get the old sheets I dropped by your place last night?”

“Uh - not yet.”

“You didn’t find them after you got back from your date? They should have been under your door as you walked in.”

“I was at Amy’s.”

“All night?”

His head gave a little innocent bobble from left to right, which, accompanied with his nonchalant shrug, made Lenore gasp and grin. She reached across with a palm, and without looking he reached up and high-fived her.

“Good for you,” she chuckled. “So I take it the bowling went well?”

“We _lost_ -lost, so yes, it went well,” he said smugly.

“I don’t know what that means but I’m happy for you.”

Now he looked up, grinning at her in a way that made her giggle.

They jumped as the door to the office opened again.

“Morning troops!” Britt called with enthusiasm, a huge smile on his face as he shut the door behind him. “And how are we today?”

“Good,” Lenore said, opening up her bag and producing a notebook. “We were just talking about—. About tonight’s operation.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Britt gushed, clapping his hands together and approaching the desk. “ _Body armour_ ,” he hissed.

“Body armour?” Kato echoed, looking tasked.

“Yeah, you know - like a bullet-proof vest, so if we get shot at we stand a better chance of escaping. I mean I do _not_ want to get shot again,” Britt said.

Lenore and Kato looked at each other. “Seems reasonable,” she said.

“It’s a good idea,” Kato said, sitting up and putting all his attention on the laptop.

Britt dropped a hand on his shoulder. “So can I leave that with you? I don’t even know where to start, man. You know all this stuff. Is that ok?”

Kato paused. He looked up. “It’s ok. If I need anything… I get you to speak to the people you know to get it for me.”

“ _Yes_ ,” Britt agreed, patting his shoulder. “Right - I’m out of here.” He walked back to the door. “Oh - how’d your date go?” he asked, spinning round to look at Kato.

“It went fine,” he said cautiously.

“Cool. If you want like a dinner reservation or something you let me know. All the restaurants let me jump the queue. I can get you in, dude.”

“Uh… thanks,” Kato managed, surprised.

Britt winked at him, opened the door, and was gone.

Lenore grinned, sitting back in her chair and appraising Kato’s entirely too relaxed lean, where he was normally so whip-cord straight. “So… tell me about bowling.”

“I am working,” he said deliberately. “And now I have body armour to make.”

She leant forward, set her elbow on the desk by the laptop, and let her chin fall into the attached hand. She stared at him from two feet away until he had to look at her. “Tell me about bowling,” she said deliberately. “And when I say ‘bowling’, I mean ‘Amy’.”

He rolled his eyes, making her laugh.

ooOoo

The garage door opened and Britt stepped through, finding Kato at his work bench, music blasting out from the sound system behind him. It sounded like a fight between classical music and angry hip-hop - not in English.

“Hey bro!” he called. “What are you making now?”

Kato looked up, moving his safety goggles up his forehead and turning the music down quickly. He waved his hands out. “Body armour.”

“Really? So fast?” he gasped, coming round the side. “It’s barely six o’clock.”

“It doesn’t look so cool but people can’t see it under your coat,” Kato shrugged. “When I have more time I will make it better.”

“That’s awesome, dude!” Britt gushed, looking around. “Can I see it?”

Kato pointed behind him and he turned to see two mannequins across the workspace. They were both wearing black mesh vests, two-inch square pockets sewn close together across the front, sides, and up the shoulder straps.

“Whoa,” Britt breathed. He walked over, putting his hand out and sliding it down the surface. “This is epic. It’s like a disco suit but in black.”

“Stand back - I show you,” Kato said. Britt turned and realised he was holding a gun. He backed up quickly. Kato handed him safety glasses. “Put these on.”

He pushed the glasses on and watched as Kato slid his own goggles down, cocked the gun, then raised it directly at the left mannequin from ten feet away. He fired once, twice. A _ping_ and a _thunk_ made Britt jump, but he watched in fascination as Kato went up to the vest and put his finger to something in the pocket over the heart area.

He looked back at Britt. “See.”

Britt took off his glasses and hurried up to find two bullets buried in the vest. He touched the left one - and it fell out. “Whoa,” he breathed. “And this will work for like any bullet?”

“It will stop any bullet if it’s not close,” Kato said. “So don’t let them get close. Like… four, five feet, maybe. After that it might go through.”

“Got it.” He stood back. “Whatcha doing before midnight?” he asked. “Want to get a drink?”

“I have something to do,” he said. “But next week, ok?”

“Got it, yeah - next week,” Britt nodded. “Cool.”

Kato clapped a hand to his arm and walked off, back to his work bench. Britt stepped closer to the mannequin, pulling the second bullet free and marvelling at the amount of work that had gone into the protective layers.

ooOoo

Amy heard the doorbell and leapt off the sofa. She raced round to the front door, then paused to flick her hair back and straighten up. She cleared her throat, let out a long, calming breath, and opened the door.

Kato looked at her, his hands full of a large pizza box. “Hey.”

“Hi,” she grinned, stepping back and gesturing him in with her head. “I’m so glad my friends bailed on me tonight - and that you were free after all. I’m sorry for messing you around.”

“I - I have to go by eleven,” he said, walking in and pausing for her to shut the door. “I have things to do.”

“Cool,” she said. “What did you get?”

“You say you like duck, so I get the duck,” he shrugged.

She giggled, opening the pizza box a crack. “Duck on pizza?”

“It’s good.”

“I’ll try anything once.”

“I know this _now_ ,” he smiled.

She laughed and took the box from him, walking through to the kitchen with it. “Well go in, get comfortable,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll get plates.”

He slid his jacket off, hanging it on one of the pegs by the door. He lifted a foot and undid the laces on his big boot, yanking it off and then doing the other one. Hearing ceramic _clink_ ing together and wooden doors, he wandered into the kitchen after her.

“You want a beer?” she asked, as she lifted two plates and the box, turning to him.

“Uh - no, thanks.”

“Can you take these and go through? I’ve got a movie for you.”

He did as he was told, finding the large side table and setting down the pizza box. He was just wondering where to put the plates as she came through with two tall glasses of what appeared to be sparkling water.

“Ok so - grab that table for me, please,” she said.

He picked up another side table, pulling it toward her, and she put the glasses on it. She went round and sat on the left of the sofa, pulling the tables so that she could reach them both. She looked at him.

“Sit anywhere,” she said.

He looked at the sofa then plonked himself in the middle, and she bounced closer to him, picking up a remote control. She pulled her legs up next to her on the couch, leaning on his shoulder and pushing his hair round his ear closest to her. “How was work?”

“It was ok,” he said. “I got to start a new project and everyone left me alone so I could work it on all day.”

“And you enjoyed that,” she said knowingly. He shrugged and she smiled. “One day you’ll have to show me some of your ‘projects’. They sound… intriguing.”

“Oh - uh - copyright,” he said. “Like - company property. Britt has to ok the designs and we test them, then I don’t know if I’m allowed to show them to anyone.”

“Oh,” she said, disappointed. “Well… ok.”

“…Maybe there is a project I can show you,” he mused. “I should find one.”

“It’s not important,” she said.

“And your work today? Did that man in Filing get the thing you wanted?”

“Yes, he did - finally. Now I can go into the weekend without worrying about people chasing me for info.” She sighed. “I’m so glad it’s Friday.”

“Me too.”

“Oh - I got a text from Siu-Ching,” she said. “She’s so nice - all your bowling friends are. She asked if we’re going again next week.” She paused. “Can we?”

He looked at her, amused. “If you want to.”

“I _do_ want to - it was fun.” She waved the remote at him with an evil grin. “Now then. I cannot believe you have not seen this movie.”

“I haven’t seen a lot of movies, not just this one.”

“Well it’s one of my favourites and it’s _amazing_.” She pointed the remote at the TV, waiting for it to blink into life. She pressed buttons until Netflix came up, and then she went through her list to find the film. “Here we are - an Indonesian movie called ‘ _The Raid_ ’. Trust me - it’s epic. It has Chinese subtitles. Let me…” She fiddled with buttons, then nodded to herself.

“But if they speak _bahasa baku_ and you put on the Chinese subtitles, how will you know what they say?”

“Oh I’ve seen this movie so many times I already _know_ what they’re saying,” she grinned. “Now all we have to do is eat pizza and watch the movie. And believe me, this will be the most action and excitement you will see tonight.”

He looked at her. “Uh - yeah. I’m sure it will.”


	10. Chapter 10

Britt closed the door and shuffled across the back seat of the car, putting his hands on the backrest in front of him. Kato, in the driver’s seat, was flipping switches and checking details before he put the key in the ignition.

“So first things first,” Britt announced. “This car - back-up number one? It’s now called - wait for it - it’s now called The Black Beauty… _Two_. What do you reckon?”

“It’s ok,” Kato smiled.

“Great! This is going to be so cool,” Britt wheezed, just a biscuit away from full-on squealing with excitement.

“If we get there and it goes bad, then… be careful. If we get split up, you run and I run and we meet up later, ok?”

“What? No way,” Britt said, his face falling. “We don’t get split up, dude - we’re a team.”

“Then you should hope that we can take out this drugs warehouse and not even have to get out of the car.”

“Chill, dude! It’ll be easy!”

Kato looked at the ceiling, shaking his head. Then he started the engine and revved it a few times.

“Love that sound!” Britt grinned. Kato pressed a button on the dashboard and the doors to the garage opened up, revealing the secret lane. Britt leant over and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. “Let’s roll, Kato!”

The car glided out of the garage, down the dark pathway to the main road. A secret hedge opened up and it shot out into the traffic. The hedge closed again, two halves of a fake car closing up to cover the entrance.

“So you know where we’re going?” Britt asked.

“I have the route. I know three ways to get back out in case one of them is blocked.”

“Planning - I like it,” Britt nodded. “So when we get there, I’m thinking we do like we have loads of times before, right? We bash through some windows, use some rockets on whatever their main control place seems to be, set fire to like everything, and then do a runner. What do you think?”

“It took you a whole day to think of that?”

“Impressive, right?” he grinned. Kato let out a chuckle, checking traffic and turning down a side road. “Oh my god - did you just _laugh_?” Britt teased. “Wow, dude. What happened, you get lucky tonight or something?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means did you and Amy get it on or what? Like finally hook up? Do the old horizontal dance?”

“I am not telling you that,” he said, offended.

“But you _did_ go and see her, right?”

He smiled slightly. “We watched a movie and we ate pizza.”

“A movie? God I hope it wasn’t on your crappy little TV set.”

“No - she has a big TV.”

Britt paused. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapping a message quickly. “What did she make you watch? A chick flick - like a romantic comedy?” He pressed Send.

“No - a really good movie about riot police and drug lords in Jakarta. They have to fight their way out of a building. It was really good! So many fights - very well done!”

“Wow - really?”

“Really. I find it for you. You will love it.”

“Sounds like… she’s a keeper,” Britt said, surprised. He put his phone back in his pocket, then sat back slowly. “I’m happy for you, man. She sounds cool.”

“She _is_ cool.” He paused, glancing in the rear view mirror at him. “How is the DA?”

“She’s still eating and drinking everything and I keep emptying the bucket and taking her blankets,” he said. “We need to seriously take out tonnes of these guys as soon as we can - I feel bad keeping her cooped up in a wine cellar.”

The car turned again, crossing street after street, until it pulled into an alley way and slowed to a crawl. It _chug-chugg_ ed its way down the tight space, coming out at the end to what looked like a private road.

“Ok - we are here,” Kato said quietly. “It’s that building there.”

He brought the car to a stop and they peered through the front window.

A large warehouse was standing in front of them, watching them as if it didn’t trust anyone or anything. One side of the building was open to the elements, appearing derelict and unloved.

Kato ‘hmm’ed, sitting back. “I don’t like it. Where is everyone?”

“Maybe underground, like Sapphire.”

“Then we can’t use the car.”

“Or… can we?” Britt said. “They must have like a loading ramp or at least a parking floor, right?”

Kato brightened. “Right. Good thinking.”

Britt slapped his shoulder and Kato edged the car forward. He checked the empty streets, found them cool and dour at just after midnight, and turned onto the road by the warehouse.

The car sloped down the street as if bored as the two occupants looked through the windows to study everything. Kato turned right and they checked the second side - and then the third.

He turned again to drive down the fourth side - and abruptly stamped on the brakes. The car rolled and bounced in surprise, Britt grabbing onto the backrest in front of him for support.

“What the hell, dude?”

“There,” Kato said. “Look.”

They peered through the dark windows to see metal roller shutters down over what looked like a two-car entrance.

Kato backed the car up, turned, and drove up to them. “You open it.”

“Got it.” Britt leapt out of the car, leaving the door open to rush to the buttons in a metal box by the brickwork. He puzzled over them for a moment before pressing a large green button. He turned to see the shutters grinding upwards slowly. He dashed back into the car, shutting the door quietly.

Kato waited until the shutters were barely high enough, then took the car under slowly. The green headlamps picked up concrete walls two feet high on either side, steering them down a winding lane that seemed to be heading down.

Eventually they came out to a car park, stanchions dotted about to keep the ceiling up, and nothing but a few metal barrels left around at odd intervals.

“So… they have _another_ underground floor?” Kato guessed.

“There,” Britt said, patting his shoulder and then pointing.

Amongst the dust on everything, the concrete chips that had fallen from the ceiling, the rubbish that had blown in from the street, a single metal door was waiting for attention. A wide circle around the door was brushed clean.

“That must be it - looks used,” Britt said.

Kato took the car over carefully, leaving it close but pointed back toward the exit. He turned off the engine and looked over the seat of the car. “Ok - we go down there and do what? We can’t use the rockets.”

“No, but…” Britt straightened his hat, thinking. “We… Ok get this - we go down there real quiet, ok? Like ninjas. If they’re processing drugs then they have flammable stuff, right? We cause a fire and we run like hell. We get back up here and hightail it home.”

Kato looked undecided. “Sure?”

“What else do we got, dude?”

He nodded slowly. “Ok. But be careful.”

“Thanks.”

“If you are hurt you’re too heavy to carry.”

Britt tutted but Kato had already turned and opened his door. He slid out and closed it quietly, looking around. Britt scrambled out of the car and closed his door, pulling his coat straight.

ooOoo

She pulled on the straps round her ears, adjusting the face mask. “I’m telling you, she’s gearing up for something,” she said.

The man to her right grunted. “Says you.”

“Yeah man - did you see the end of the last episode? Something’s gonna go down and it’s gonna hurt.”

“Yeah but you know next week it’s not airing, right?”

“What?” she demanded flatly.

“Yeah. Some political thing instead.”

“Goddamn,” she tutted. She paused, then looked over her left shoulder, back toward the far wall. “Did you leave the light on in the entrance again?”

“Not me.”

“Those kids she gets in to help us refine this shit? They need to learn to use light switches.” She peeled off her gloves and set them on the bench, turning and walking off.

He watched her go, shrugged to himself, and went back to his steady inspection of the many tubes and filters set up on the bench. Each tube went through a complicated rollercoaster route before it went off the workspace and back toward a wall full of large metal vats.

It was a few moments later that he paused and turned. He pulled up his safety goggles. “Maria?”

No-one answered.

He put down his pen and wandered over to the far door, seeing a light from underneath it. He put his hand on the doorknob and opened it up.

Two faces looked out at him - both wearing masks. He gasped in a deep breath. “Who—!”

A black and white fist shot out and smacked him into unconsciousness. He sank like a stone but four hands reached out and grabbed him. They pulled him through the door and lowered him gently to the ground. Britt looked around and realised there were a dozen more people at various work benches, wholly engrossed in their work.

Britt closed the door quickly. Between him and Kato, the man was hefted over to the unconscious Maria. They stood back and wiped gloved hands. “There are more people in there,” he whispered. “We can’t burn this place down with them in it.”

Kato went back to the door, opening it a crack to peek through. He closed the door, looking at Britt. “So… we give them time to escape?”

“Yes - we make them run first. _Then_ we set fire to stuff.”

Kato nodded. He went to the door, but then paused and looked back at him. “How do we do that?”

Britt pulled on the rim of his hat, thinking. Then he looked at him. “They’ve got to have a couple of guys with guns, right? We bag one, we fire it, they all run like hell. How’s that?”

“I don’t think we have a choice.”

“Ok then - let’s go. Find a guard-like dude first.”

“And if the others see us?”

“Don’t knock them out - they won’t be able to run.”

Kato turned and looked down at the two incapacitated people. He slapped the back of his hand into Britt’s front, waggling his fingers.

“What?” Britt asked.

“Name cards.”

Britt grinned and pulled out two, handing them over. Kato bent down and slipped one each into the top pockets on the white lab coats. He straightened. “Ok, so _these_ can’t run because we knocked them out. We wake them up and they run back in there, cause trouble. We grab a gun, make everyone try to escape, then we set fire to everything. Plan?”

“Plan,” Britt nodded.

ooOoo

He stepped back from all the lab coats currently pouring, mixing, checking, and filling in clipboards. Leaning back against the wall, he let his hand move from the butt of the gun in his holster and instead go inside his jacket pocket. He pulled out a packet of cigarettes, shaking one free and fishing his lighter out of his trousers.

He slipped the cigarette in his mouth, put the packet away, and lit the end. Drawing in a deep breath, he blew it out past the cigarette, watching everyone carefully. He raised his watch and glanced at it before sighing and continuing to contemplate the room.

A door shot open so fast he heard it smack into a concrete wall. “Everyone run! We’ve been found! Run! Run!” screamed a voice.

The guard wrenched his gun free and cocked it, dropping the cigarette to grab his radio. “Everyone! Find that screamer and find out what’s happening!”

Lab coats were moving and talking, starting to group together, move toward the back wall.

“Dan - it’s Maria, the head,” said his radio. “She says two masked men beat up her and Mike - they woke up and ran. What’s going on?”

“Find the two men and kill them!” he shouted down the radio. He put a foot out to run toward the group of lab coats.

Something black shot round from behind him and belted him in the face. As he tumbled to the floor his gun went off.

Screaming started. The sounds of something crashing, glass smashing - the guard struggled to his feet. He saw lab coats now stampeding the exit.

He turned. A black boot collided with his head. He slammed into the floor and lay still.

Kato stepped back and raised a hand in the air, waving.

Britt, across the room, nodded and leapt out at the first person not wearing a lab coat. One solid punch to the face; the man went down like spaghetti from a tilted plate. He stepped over him and then crouched to find his gun.

One went off over his head. He ducked; he dived over the body of the fallen man. But when he looked over the top he saw the man with the gun already on the receiving end of a foot to his face, courtesy of Kato. Two other men rushed the man in black. Britt gasped and wrenched himself up.

As he found his feet Kato had already back-fisted one man in the face and spun to heave his boot into the other. They both went down but Kato turned again - and another guard was swiped to the floor by his foot.

“Whoa,” Britt breathed.

Kato straightened his hat and looked around. Then he picked up one of the guns and checked it over. He fired it into the ceiling once, twice.

The last group of lab coats was already screaming and crowding the exit. Kato stood back, nodding to himself, then looked around. Guards were groaning and scrabbling to get to their hands and knees.

Britt got up and ran toward Kato. “Ok! Let’s burn this place!”

Kato went to the nearest workbench. He put down the gun and tried to read the tags on the many glass tubes and bottles. “I don’t know what any of this is,” he blurted.

“Smash ‘em all - just don’t get splashed!” the Hornet said. He picked up one large glass container in both hands and threw it at the floor.

“Hey!” came a voice. He spun to see a man with a handgun. “Get out of here before I shoot you!” the guard warned.

“ _You_ get out of here before this place goes up! And tell your boss the Green Hornet sends his regards!”

The man raised the gun. Britt threw himself backwards over the bench. Glass and metal went flying. Shots buzzed all around him but he found himself on the floor and unhurt.

He looked through the legs of the bench. The man’s feet were still there - but suddenly so were Kato’s. One disappeared and a swift _smack_ and a _hurrgh_ told Britt that he should move.

A body crashed into the bench above him. He pushed himself out from under it and shot to his feet. He grabbed the man now lying on it and hauled him across to fall to the floor. He snatched up the man’s gun and pointed it at him. “Now give her that message!” he shouted.

The man got to his hands and knees. He began to crawl off as fast as he could. Britt pocketed the gun. He turned and started shoving things off benches.

Kato bent at the waist, his hands on his knees, looking winded. Then he pushed himself up and copied him.

Finally Britt stood back. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and looked at Kato. “Get ready to run!”

Kato located the exit and started to sprint.

Britt grinned and flicked the lighter. He crouched and set the edge to a stain of odd-looking purple water on the floor.

It caught light immediately. He backed up and chased after Kato, and the two of them pounded through the exit.

They broke out into the parking floor. Britt was already to the car but Kato was behind him, puffing with exertion. He pulled open the driver’s door and slid in as Britt slammed the back door shut.

“Go go go!” he grinned. He opened the window and tossed out a couple of name cards.

Kato started the car and it tore off, back up the winding exit lane as fast as he could without getting too close to the concrete edges.

“Aw shit!” Britt gasped, pointing up ahead.

“I see it! I’m driving!” Kato snapped, his eyes picking up all too well the way the metal shutters were coming down over the exit. He glanced down to his right and flipped a switch. Something whined with sudden power. He leant forward with an unexpected grunt and snapped a toggle switch.

A rocket flew out and hammered into the shutters. The force pushed them out and up even as it tore a gigantic rip in the middle. As the parts flew out to the sides, the car shot out onto the street unscathed.

It fishtailed as Kato brought it around. And then it streaked off, turning first one way, then another down the side streets.

They burst out onto the main road. Kato slowed the car abruptly, matching the sleepy speed of the midnight traffic as they made it down the main street.

“That was amazing!” Britt cried. He ripped off his hat, leaning over the front seat. “Dude you were like lightning, kicking people in the face, punching them out! Awesome!” He slapped a hand on Kato’s shoulder.

He grunted with effort, hissing. Britt lifted his hand, coming forward and looking over the seat at him. “You ok, dude?”

“I thought I was,” he managed, his voice laboured. “But now I think - I’m not.”

Britt climbed over the seat, pushing himself into the front passenger side. He found Kato with his left hand on the wheel, his right clamped to his side. “Shit - let me see.” He lifted Kato’s glove and found torn cloth - and blood. “Holy shit - you’re hurt alright. What was it, glass?”

“It can’t be glass - I’m wearing the body armour,” he hissed.

“A gun then?”

“Body armour!” Kato cried in anger.

“Ok, alright - get us back to the garage. I’ll call in Lenore, get some help on the quiet.”

Kato said nothing, just pursed his lips and sped up a little.

Britt climbed back over the seat to sit in the darkness of the car. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the phone app, scrolling through to find her number. He pressed it and pushed it to his ear. “Come on… Come on… Oh! Lenore!”

“How’d it go?” she asked quickly.

“We did ok but Kato’s hurt. Can you get someone to the garage?”

“What do you mean he’s hurt! Hurt how?”

“I don’t know - a cut or something. It looks bad - there’s blood everywhere.” He glanced up to see Kato watching him in the rear view mirror. “But what do I know - I’m not a medical doctor,” he added louder. “We need a real person to check him, confirm that it’s nothing.”

“Shit - I’ll meet you at the garage.” The line clicked.

Britt looked up. He climbed back over the seat and yanked a bandana from the top pocket of his coat. He folded it and then pressed it into the blood now leaking quite freely from Kato’s side.

“Ow! Shit!” he snapped.

“Sorry dude but it’s all I can do until we get back, ok?”

Kato’s mouth sealed shut in a thin line.

Britt looked out of the front window. “C’mon, c’mon - home has gotta be round the next corner, right?”


	11. Chapter 11

Lenore opened up the garage door and hurried in, a short woman running behind her. They skidded to a stop in the middle, finding the large black car parked on its spot, the doors open. Britt was in the front passenger seat. He looked through the windscreen and spotted Lenore.

“Hey! You got help?” he cried. He waved her closer.

She turned to the woman behind her and shooed her forward. “Go - quick. Help him.”

The brunette stared around her for a long, long moment before she nodded. She scuttled past everyone and came up on the open driver’s door.

“No - it’s this side,” Britt called over.

She came round the car and flapped a hand at him to move. He propelled himself out of the seat and her way. She didn’t even look at him as he stood back, his hands swinging about in helplessness.

Lenore appeared next to him. She grabbed his arm and yanked him back across the garage a good twenty feet. She spun him round to turn their backs to the car. “What happened?” she whispered angrily.

“I don’t know - honest,” he urged under his breath. “We got in there, took out everyone, he beat up like twenty people - I mean they fired a few shots but he was all over the place like a ninja on Speed - there’s no way they could have winged him. We smashed a load of stuff and then set fire to it and we ran - I swear that’s it.”

They turned back and watched as the woman was trying to find a comfortable way to kneel on the passenger seat and still keep her hands to Kato’s side. “Let me look,” she said shakily.

His head was resting on the backrest, his eyes on the ceiling. She gently guided his glove away from the bandana pressed into his right side. It stayed in place, at least one layer stuck fast with blood. She began to peel it away but his glove captured her wrist. “Are you a friend of Lenore’s?”

She jumped in fright. “I - I’m her niece - Peony.”

He let her go and she peeled the bandana away. Her hands went to his coat, trying to pull the side up. She shook her head as it refused to move. Shuffling out of the car, she looked over at Lenore and Britt. “We need to get him out. I need a flat surface to work on with lots of light.”

Britt and Lenore hurried up to the driver’s side and hauled him out. He kept his mouth shut but his face was red with exertion as they threw his arms over their shoulders and walked him to a bench under the main light. Lenore left him leaning on Britt and quickly emptied the bench of toolboxes and random metal parts, and then they helped him lift himself onto the surface. Britt pushed him to lie back, keeping his hand on his shoulder as if afraid he would disappear.

Peony snatched up her bag and hurried over. She pulled at Kato’s coat. “Get this off him - quickly. Be careful when you separate it from the wound.”

Lenore elbowed Britt out of the way and undid the hidden fasteners to the black coat, opening it up and carefully unsticking it from the blood in his side. The body armour underneath looked unscathed save a hole in the right side. She unclipped it and with his judicious leaning she slid it out from under him, dropping it to the floor. He relaxed back to the surface with a hiss of pain, his black shirt shiny with blood; Lenore concentrated on her fingers, undoing his shirt buttons.

Britt hovered behind her, his hands trying to reach out but then halting as they realised he didn’t know how to help effectively.

She pulled Kato’s shirt wide open, showing everyone concerned that he was breathing hard and probably too fast - and that it was only his right side that was gashed and leaking. He was staring at the ceiling with a purpose, his mouth clamped shut as his nose puffed away.

Peony looked up, shooing Lenore out of the way. “Ok - get me some small towels and a bowl or container of hot water. Go.”

Lenore turned and pushed at Britt. He staggered back, his eyes still on the blood. Then he tore off, heading for the house. Lenore went around Kato’s other side. She picked up his left glove, squeezing his fingers. “How bad is it?” she asked her niece.

Peony was bending down, staring at the nasty injury. “Bullet wound.”

“No,” he groaned, his right hand flailing up. “I had the body armour.”

She guided his hand back out of her way. “Well either it got between kevlar plates or it was too close,” she said. “Keep still, please. I think it’s still in there.”

“鄉姦,” he groaned.

Lenore looked at Peony. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Not yet. Please just let me work.” She turned to her bag, lifting it and putting it on the bench by Kato’s head. Snapping it open, she placed a white cloth on his chest. She pulled out a selection of tools and laid them out on top. “Calm him down, please - or I’m going to lose my instruments.”

Lenore took his hat off, fluffing his hair back and smiling down at him. “Hey. You’re going to be ok. Peony’s really good. Just hold on a bit longer and she’ll fix you up, ok?”

“Ok,” he breathed, but his fingers kept squeezing hers, getting ever harder, and his chest did not slow down.

“It’s not even that bad,” Lenore breezed.

Kato let out a grunt of a scoff. “Except for all the blood.”

“Oh _please_ \- I’ve seen worse,” she tutted.

“Not - not fair,” he grunted.

“Why’s that?”

“You’re a woman.”

She smiled down at him. “And that’s how I know you’re going to be ok. Peony’s going to do her medical thing and you’ll be perfectly fine.” She put her free hand on his shoulder. “Just let it go, ok? Relax.”

“Trying,” he huffed.

“Try harder,” she warned.

Peony went into her bag and pulled out a few small bottles. She ripped open a fresh syringe and stabbed it through the top of one, measuring a dose.

Lenore looked away as she realised she was about to inject something. She lifted her hand off his shoulder and covered her eyes, making sure she did not peek until she heard the clasps on her bag move again. Her hand dropped. “What was that?”

“Sedative,” she said. “I can’t do this if he’s all worked up.”

Lenore looked down at him and stroked his hair back over his head, squeezing his fingers through his glove. “It’ll be ok,” she whispered.

“How do I…” He grunted, fighting to keep his eyes open under the mask. “How do I explain this… to Amy?”

“I’ll think of something - leave it to me, ok?” she smiled. “Just relax. We’ll look after you.”

“N-no,” he managed, trying to let go of her fingers. “I can—”

Peony’s hands went to her instruments on his chest, holding him down as he tried to move. “Stop!”

“Kato - stop!” Lenore urged, her empty hand going to his shoulder to hold him down. “It’s ok - really. We’ve got this. Please - just lie back.”

“N-no,” he whispered, his eyes already closed. “You will leave - leave me behind. Everyone - everyone does. I can… I can… do this… myself… 我不能... 依賴… 任何人...”

His head sank to one side.

The two women looked at each other for a long moment. Lenore looked back down, noticing his chest slow, causing Peony’s instruments to stop thinking about rolling off him.

Lenore bit her lip, watching his shoulders and his neck just give up all tension. His fingers slipped through hers but she grabbed them hastily. “That’s supposed to happen, right?”

“It is,” Peony nodded. She bent down, pulling on gloves before picking up a scalpel. “Now this is going to bleed - possibly a lot. I need you to swab it up for me so it doesn’t make too much of a mess.”

“Ok,” she said shakily. She laid his hand gently on the bench, then hurried round to her side.

“Get some gloves on,” Peony said.

Lenore yanked a new pair from the cardboard box in Peony’s bag, then snapped them on, hovering, uncertain. “What are you going to do?”

Peony rolled his side up an inch, peering underneath, and then let it fall back. “It’s definitely a bullet - it’s tried very hard but it just about hasn’t made it all the way through. I think…” She bit her lip for a second. “I think I’m going to have to cut open the back so it can finish its route.”

“ _What?_ ”

“It’s that or dig through the front.” She shook her head. “This will be quicker and he’ll heal faster.”

“Ok - ok - sorry,” Lenore said. “You’re the med student.”

“Thanks,” Peony said dryly.

They heard a noise and Britt came through the door behind them. “Got it! How is he? Is it bad?”

“It will be if you don’t keep calm and help us,” Lenore said firmly.

He nodded, carrying a bowl between his hands, several towels over his arm. He set it down by Kato’s knee - then noticed the wound up close. “How _shit_ \- you sure he’s going to be ok?” he blurted in horror.

“Look,” Peony said rather shakily, “I know you’re all like important people and you have some secret-life shit going on right now - because I’m not stupid and I’ve worked out who you two are. —But you just dragged me from my commute home after a fourteen hour shift so right now you just have to s _hut up and do whatever I need you to_.”

Britt took a step back. “Uh - ok - yeah.” He glanced at Lenore, who was fuming at him. “What do we do?”

“Listen very carefully, and do exactly as I say,” Peony warned.

ooOoo

Something light tickled at his face. He grunted something and lifted his right hand to swipe it from his skin.

Pain attacked his side and he swore under his breath as his eyes shot open; he fought to sit up.

“Hey - slow down!” came a familiar voice.

Kato squinted around the room, trying to work out what was happening. “我在哪裡?” His hands went out behind him and he sagged into an exhausted lean.

He found a bed surrounding him, and Britt on a chair down to the right of the end of it. Britt’s arms were folded, his legs out straight and crossed at the ankles. Apart from his hat, coat and mask, he seemed to be in the same Hornet get-up as the last time Kato had seen him. “What? In English, dude,” Britt said. “Come on, you can do it.”

Kato rubbed his face. “Where is this?” he managed, his mouth dry.

Britt unfolded his arms, leaning forward and setting his elbows on his knees. He clasped his hands. “It’s a spare room in my dad’s place,” he said. “I was going to take you home but the doc said she didn’t know what was going to happen with the sedative, so… Well I had to keep an eye on you, right? Wasn’t sure what state you’d be in when you woke up, bro. And… here we are.”

Kato whipped back the blankets, finding someone had changed his clothes for a single pair of expensive blue silk pyjama bottoms. He pulled the waistband out to peek underneath, relieved to find his shorts were at least still there. “Did you put these on me?”

“Now we’re even,” Britt grinned. “I owed you for the diaper.”

Something white caught Kato’s eye; he found a patch over his right side, just above the waist of the pyjama trousers. He pressed at it carefully - a manoeuvre he immediately regretted as it sent pain back up through his side.

“Now don’t do that,” Britt sighed. “Peony spent like an hour removing a bullet and stitching you up. It was disgusting, and it took me ages to get the blood off your spare workbench, but it’s done so please don’t mess it up - or the other one.”

Kato lifted his right arm with effort, Britt noticed. He looked down his side, feeling at the patch and then twisting slightly to look further round - where another patch awaited him. “What did you say it was?”

“A bullet,” Britt said clearly. “She pulled it out.”

“But I had the body armour.”

“Yeah, and Lenore was looking into what kind of bullet it was, since it made a _hole_ in your body armour.”

“What?”

“Exactly. So when you’re feeling up to it, you me and Lenore can sit down and have a debrief, ok?”

“Why two of these?” he asked, confused. His hand touched at one pad then the other - very gingerly.

“Well it went in but didn’t come out. Peony did this cool thing where she found where it _should_ come out - and then she cut you open and fished it out.”

“ _What_?”

“Honestly - I was seriously ready to barf the whole time, she but just found it first time and dragged it out like it was nothing. That woman is _seriously amazing_.”

Kato just blinked at the two pads, his face a car crash between disgust and relief.

Britt got up. “You stay here, ok? I’ll make you some of your tea.”

“I’m ok,” he said irritably, putting his hands under him and shoving his legs over the side of the bed. He hissed and held onto his side, pushing himself up. “I get my own tea.”

“ _No_ , you’ll let me help you. And here, put some clothes on,” he added, tossing him a cotton bathrobe. “I mean, you’re ripped, right? _Ripped_. But there’s no need to flash it about.”

“Of course it’s ripped - a bullet ripped it,” he said with discomfort, sliding the robe on awkwardly.

Britt grinned, shaking his head fondly. “Sure, buddy. Come on.”

ooOoo

Lenore turned as she heard the door to the study open. She grinned as Kato came through, a hand to his side. “Hey!” she cried. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I am the floor of a taxi cab,” he groaned, wandering up to the table and sitting heavily.

“Well it’s after midday, Saturday. Just so you know.” She paused, watching him slump to one side, then suppress a groan and shift his weight on the chair. “We had a rest, regrouped, and then we looked into what happened.”

“You should have woken me up. I could have helped you,” he said.

“Oh no - Peony said to leave you until the sedative wore off,” Britt announced, walking in and closing the study door behind him. “And we’re lucky Lenore found someone so fast to help us.” He continued walking, going to the drinks trolley at the far end of the room.

“She was just getting off a shift at the hospital,” she said. “We owe her _big_ time.”

Kato gasped and looked up. “But now she must know who we are.”

“She does,” Lenore said. “But I’ve made sure she’s not going to tell anyone. And this way… maybe she could help us again if we need her.”

Kato’s face turned aggrieved. “We don’t _want_ to need her.”

“I know that. But things happen,” she said, waving a hand at him. “Anyway. How _do_ you feel?”

“I want to know what hit me,” he said. “Britt says the bullet went through the body armour - so the armour wasn’t any good?”

“Dude - your body armour worked _great_ ,” Britt said from the back of the room. “But there was no way you could know what we were up against.” He carried over two drinks. “One for our strategist,” he said, handing Lenore a sparkling water, “and one for our martial arts expert.” He set down a glass containing maybe a sliver of whisky.

Kato just looked at it. “This is not tea.”

“No, it’s not - it’s for you.”

“Why?”

“The expensive stuff, man. You earned it.” He went back to the trolley.

“Oh.” He sat up, wincing but trying not to show it. Then he picked up the glass and sniffed it.

“Anyway,” Lenore said, ignoring the way he shifted his weight again to lean more on his left, “Britt is right. Your body armour was proper grade. It stands up to anything except a direct shot, right?”

“I thought so,” Kato said miserably.

“Yeah, well take a look at what Peony dug out of you.” She handed him a sealed plastic bag.

He took it slowly, lifting it and eyeing the contents with suspicion. “I don’t know anything about bullets.”

“What?” Britt asked from the trolley. “Then how do you restock all the stuff on the Beauties?”

“I read the instructions and order the matching parts,” Kato shrugged.

“Well I’m not a munitions expert either,” Lenore said, “so I matched it against every photo of a bullet the Sentinel has ever processed. And that bullet might not match anything we’ve seen, but the _kind_ of bullet does. It’s armour-piercing, Kato. It would probably have gone through a car door and _still_ gone through your vest.”

Britt carried his own drink across the room, taking a seat a few chairs down from Kato. “See? Your body armour was fine. But they cheated - they’re using armour-piercing rounds.”

“Armour-piercing?” he muttered, studying the bullet.

“Do you remember when Britt said Sapphire was boxing up drugs, money - and bullets?” Lenore said. “He said he didn’t know why they would do that when you can just _buy_ bullets. He’s right - it’s because you can’t buy the kind of armour-piercing rounds they were boxing up.”

Kato put the bag down and sipped his drink. He blinked at the strong liquor, then just sipped it again. “Ok but now what?”

“Now we all take the day off,” Britt said. “You need to rest and check through the bag of pills and shit that Peony left you, and me and Lenore need to come up with a plan for the next stop on our pissing-Sapphire-off tour.”

Kato downed the final sip of his drink. “I want to go home.”

“Dude you can stay here,” he said, his arms out. “It’s not like I don’t have the room.”

“I want to sleep in my own bed.”

Britt sighed. “Ok - fine. Get a cab - charge it to the company.”

“I can take my bike,” he said, leaving the glass on the table and walking off.

Britt opened his mouth but Lenore waved a hand at him. He closed his mouth, folding his arms resolutely. Lenore turned again to the door. “Message us to say you’ve got home safe!” she called.

Britt waited until the door had closed behind Kato. _Then_ he leant closer to her, his hands slapping into the table surface. “Dude - he’s being unfair,” he urged as quietly as his umbrage would allow. “We’re just trying to look after him when he needs it and he’s being a stubborn ass!”

“I don’t know what’s going on with him but he’s got a serious dependency phobia,” she allowed. She closed her eyes, the image of him struggling to sit up against a sedative still too fresh in her mind. She pinned Britt with a stern look. “Just… go easy on him, ok? Wear him down slowly. Yes, sometimes you can be a dick, and yes, sometimes he can be an overly-independent, stubborn loner with trust issues. Just accept that and work with it.”

He sat back. “I never thought—.” He looked tasked for a moment, and then somewhat hurt. “Oh. Yeah. I guess,” he muttered. He tilted his head. “You get my text?”

“About what?”

“About a decent TV for his apartment. I swear he’s got like a weeny little ten-inch thing that was past it in the eighties.”

She smiled. “Yes, I got your text. I’ll get him a TV, Britt. Leave it with me.”

“It’s got to be huge, right? With all the coolest, best shit on it so Amy will be totally impressed.”

“Uh… he’s not going to want that.”

“What? Who _wouldn’t_ want that?”

She put a hand up to stop him. “Listen - I’ll get him the right TV, ok? So he’s happy with it.” She looked at the laptop. “Anyway. We need to come up with a plan for the next lab. This one’s crystal meth. Should be easy to burn down, except now Sapphire will be on alert so she’s going to expect a visit from the Green Hornet.”

“And can he drive again like tonight or tomorrow?” he asked. “That wound looked pretty gnarly.”

“It did,” she allowed. “But you can’t go without him, and he can’t go. So why don’t we use the time to come up with a good, long-range plan so no-one gets shot next time.”

“ _Yes_ ,” he said, pointing at her. “One where we park like at the end of the street and give them all the rockets the Black Beauty has.”

“I like the way you think.” She reached over and turned on the laptop, watching it boot up. “Now we need to know everything about the surrounding area, and how you can get to it without physically being on the premises.”

“Got it,” he said, pulling over a notebook and clicking his pen into action.

ooOoo

Sapphire picked up the desk phone and hurled it across the room. The power cord caught it halfway, making it crash into the floor and smash half of the case into pieces. “That bastard!”

Charlie stood back, his hands in front of him, keeping his mouth judiciously shut. He heard a noise behind him and realised someone was on other side of the door, knocking softly. He opened it and stuck his head through. “Run. Save yourself,” he said quietly.

The woman nodded and turned away, hurrying off across the underground workspace.

Charlie pulled back in the room. “Do we relocate again, boss?”

“No. He can’t know about this new place,” she spat. “And so what if he does? Let him come here - I’ll just shoot him in his smug face.”

“When you do can I have the sidekick? I owe him.”

“Absolutely!” She plonked down in her chair, looking at the ceiling. “So that’s one DA killed, one of our labs taken out, and our best underground HQ moved to this dump.” She huffed to herself. “I swear I will slice off his extremities and nail them to his forehead.”

Charlie suppressed a smile. “I’ll help.”

“Oh I know you will.” She swung the chair to look at him. “Gloves are off. Tell _everyone_ \- the next place he hits, I want him _dead_. And I don’t care if we lose product or people in the crossfire, understand? His head or theirs - that’s the order.”

“Yes boss,” he said, turning to the door.

“And Charlie?” she added. He turned and looked at her. She sat up slowly. “Sorry to have to do this, but… that includes you.”

“I get it, boss,” he nodded quietly.

“Because it goes for me too - when the big boss finds out about this that’s exactly what she’ll say to my face.”

“We’ll get him,” he promised. She nodded and he opened up the door and disappeared.

She sank back in the chair. Then she lifted a Doc Marten boot and slammed it into the edge of the table, swearing meaningfully, fluently, and in every other way that was simply an attempt to make her feel better.

ooOoo

The motorbike had never been happier to pull into the parking lot out the front of the block of apartments. Kato psyched himself up to swing off the bike, making a face and holding onto his side as he did so. He pulled the keys out and simply dragged himself over to the iron staircase, forcing himself to climb up to the first floor.

The apartment door took in his lethargy brought on by something other than simple weariness and decided against being a bother; his key turned first time and he made it into his own space with a sigh of relief.

He put a heel out behind him and swept it shut, hearing it lock. Shedding his helmet and his jacket, he looked longingly at the bed before sitting on the couch and trying to undo his boots.

It hurt. He sat back, shaking his head. A soft beep and a buzz in his pocket made him frown. He pulled the phone out and opened the message.

‘ _Happy Saturday, gorgeous. Enjoy your piano lesson. Don’t work too hard_ ’

He smiled despite the dull ache in his side. Then he lifted the phone and typed. ‘ _No lesson today._ ’ He pressed Send and his hand fell to the sofa. He contemplated getting up.

The phone buzzed again. He looked down at the message.

‘ _Everything ok?_ ’

He sighed. He lifted the phone, his thumb poised to type. But he paused, his head tilting as words went through his head. Finally he let the phone drop and pushed himself up. He closed all the curtains. In five minutes he had brushed his teeth and thrown all his clothes in the hamper, choosing a simple basketball shirt and some comfortable joggers instead. He went back to his jacket on the sofa, rooting through the pocket to find the screw-top medication jar. He wrestled it open and pulled out one tablet, pushing the lid back on and setting it on his bedside table. He went back over to the kitchenette and poured himself a glass of water before carrying it over and leaving that on the table too.

Then he climbed under the covers and, despite the pain it caused him, turned on his left side and curled up in a ball. His left hand went up and held onto his opposite shoulder, and he slapped his head into the pillow a few times.

Sleep was easy; avoiding the dreams of falling asleep only to wake and find everyone had deserted him yet again was not.


	12. Chapter 12

Lenore looked up from her notebook, across the study table. “Ok, so we have the location and a good idea of numbers,” she said. “What we need to know is how to get in and out safely. Best case scenario - Kato can drive but not leave the car - under _any_ circumstances. Worst case? He can’t go.”

“Yeah,” Britt allowed, frowning. He was quiet for a long moment. “He’ll be ok, right?”

“With rest, yes,” she said quietly. “Peony said he’ll be fine.”

“He looked pretty bad.”

“So you do after an all-night party, and yet here you are,” she smiled.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He paused. “You think we should check on him?”

Her face fell. “I think… he’s better off on his own. If he needs something he’ll find us.”

“You sure? You know he’ll just be like ‘I can handle this’ and never mention he’s dying. He’s such a stubborn bastard sometimes.”

“Maybe he has a good reason,” she said, looking at her notebook. Then she looked across the table to her bag. Reaching in she fished around for her phone. She looked at Britt, then bit her lip.

“What?”

“Well… he won’t let _us_ look after him,” she said. “But I bet there’s _one_ person he won’t turn away.”

“Genius!” he gushed. “The pool guy!”

“No,” she tutted. She opened up one of her social media accounts quickly, then scrolled through names. She stopped on someone. Her thumb hovered over the ‘call’ button.

“Old Man Fung?” Britt hazarded.

Lenore looked at him - just looked. Then her thumb touched at the phone symbol. She sniffed, smoothed her hair round the side of her neck, sat up straighter, and put the phone to her ear. It rang and rang.

Britt’s mouth opened.

She lifted an index finger, not even looking at him.

His mouth closed.

The line clicked. “Hello?”

“Oh hi,” Lenore said, in her best sunshine voice. “I know this is really forward of me but I’m Lenore - I work with Kato.”

“Oh, yeah,” the voice said brightly. “Hi. He’s mentioned you. You’re good friends, right?”

“Yes, we are,” she said, sitting back and folding an arm across her. “That’s why I’m calling. He was doing some work in the garage today and he had a bit of an accident.”

“What? Is he ok?”

“He’s fine - or he will be. But he’s gone home by himself and I’m pretty sure he has to take antibiotics on time, painkillers, things like that.”

“Sounds serious.”

“He was doing work on this car and - well, accidents happen. And you know what he’s like,” Lenore said. “He won’t tell anyone how bad it is. I would go round and check on him but he’d just chase me away, so—”

“Do you want - uh—. I… Well if you’re busy then… I could go?”

“Are you sure?” she asked critically. “You don’t need to, I mean I don’t know how far it is from you but—”

“Oh it’s no trouble,” the voice breezed. “I could drop by. I messaged him earlier but he stopped replying, so… I just thought maybe he was busy.”

“Maybe his phone is flat,” Lenore said.

“Yeah… Yeah he does have a habit of running it right down.”

“Anyway. Sorry to call you out of the blue like this - so glad you accepted my friend request.”

“Oh no that’s fine! It’s nice to meet another of his friends. I’ll go check on him - maybe take him some soup.”

“That would be perfect,” Lenore grinned. “Thanks. You can always message me, you know.”

“Thank you! Ok - I’ll get going. Bye!”

“Bye.” She touched at the red button and looked at Britt with a grin so wide it was a wonder it didn’t fall off her face.

“Who was that?” he asked, confused.

“Amy!”

“Oohh - _Amy_ ,” he heaved. He nodded. “Yeah - that’ll do it.”

Lenore put the phone down. “Anyway - plan?”

“I’m all about rockets,” he said with a grin.

ooOoo

A banging made him give up on trying to force himself to go back to sleep. He opened his eyes. Then he realised his phone was buzzing from its rather smug position on the couch. The banging continued and he winced at the door, figuring out that it must be someone knocking on it.

With great effort he levered himself out of bed. He rubbed at his face, unsure whether to answer his phone or the door first. He shuffled to the door dumbly, not even looking through the spyhole before he opened it up.

“Hi!” Amy said brightly, her sunny yellow t-shirt and skinny jeans just pleased to be out and about. She had her phone to her ear, but touched the red key and let it drop to her side. “Oh you poor thing - look at you,” she tutted, walking past him and into the apartment.

“Uh…”

“Lenore is worried about you, after you hurt yourself like that working on some car,” she tutted, her eyes going round the spacious yet chaotic flat. She shrugged her bag up her shoulder.

He shut the door, turning and leaning on it. “Sorry - you should go. I’m not… I can’t…”

She turned and looked at him. “I brought you soup,” she smiled, holding up a food flask and looking toward the kitchenette. “Do you want some now or do you have to take your pills with food? My brother has to take pills with food - something about the way they make them, they have to be digested together. But he’s terrible about taking medication. Honestly, it’s like having a dog - I have to roll his favourite food round the pill so he’ll eat it without tasting it.” She walked over, finding nowhere to set down the flask except the two-ring stove. She shrugged and put it down, looking through the cupboard at head height for a large mug. “He still does it and he’s like thirty-eight. I guess some things you can’t grow out of.”

“Amy.”

She paused, then turned and looked at him.

He was studying his feet. “I’m tired but I can’t sleep. I don’t need food, I need to be by myself.”

“Do you actually _need_ to be by yourself?” she asked softly. “Or… can I stay to check on you?”

“I don’t need you to.”

“I _know_ ,” she said, walking back over to him. “But sometimes it’s nice to have the luxury of someone doing it _for_ you.”

“I don’t want you here,” he said, walking past her. She watched him cross to the bed but he paused by it, as if weighing something up. “Sorry,” he added quietly.

“Tell me why you don’t want me here. And then I’ll go.”

He sniffed. “I don’t know, ok?”

“You do. You just don’t want to tell me.”

“Just - please - let me sleep.”

“You said you _couldn’t_ sleep. And if I leave you like this then you _definitely_ won’t sleep.”

He huffed, eyeing the bed. He turned slowly but he kept his eyes on her Converse footwear. “Sorry. Just go. I call you later.”

“No, you’ll get back into bed and I’ll watch you until you wake up.”

His head tilted but he didn’t look up. “Until I wake up?”

“Well yes. I couldn’t sneak out while you’re asleep - that’s just rude. And what if you need waking up every few hours to check you’re ok or something?” She walked over to the couch and sat. She put her bag down and unlaced her Converse, leaving them by the sofa. “Ok, into bed with you, come on.”

His mouth worked. Then he turned, and with great stiffness and a groan of pain, he got himself back under the covers and laid out on his back. She watched him shift around, then slipped a paperback book out of her bag. She climbed on the foot of the bed, crawling up the empty half. She turned herself round and laid out on her back, the book on top of her, sighing in comfort.

“This is… a _good_ bed,” she said, surprised. She noticed him roll away from her, onto his left side. “So what _did_ you do? Drop a car on your foot?”

“No.” He pushed the covers down then lifted up his basketball shirt.

Her eyes fairly bulged at the white patches over his side, the tape keeping them in place. “Holy _shit_ , Kato!” she blurted. “Don’t they hurt?”

“A little.”

“Don’t lie - I bet they sting like a _bastard_ ,” she tutted. He smiled in surprise. She rocked his shoulder, then pushed herself up. “We’re doing this wrong. Move back, where I was.”

“But I’m comfortable.”

“And you will be again. Go.”

He shuffled back and she got off the bed, collecting up phones. “Now I’m going to put these on _charge_ , so they _work_ when we need them.” She paused. “Also on silent.”

She found cables by the bedside table and plugged them in, hearing the little _bong_ of power. Then she flicked at settings to turn off the sounds before she shooed him further across the bed. Once she was satisfied he was far enough away, she sat and turned herself around, on top of the covers. She stretched out on her back.

She looked at him on her right. “Ok, now come here.”

“Where?”

She tutted and leant her hand back, snaking it under his neck. He moved up until his head was lying on her shoulder. Her right hand went round his back, sliding up and into his hair. “There. Now you can relax - and you’re not allowed to move.”

“And you can’t leave.”

“I’m kind of trapped,” she giggled.

“No I mean… You can’t leave.” He paused. “Not until I wake up.”

“Yeah, I already said I’m not leaving till you wake up.”

“No - you have to make sure you stay. Until - until I wake up.”

“Yeah, I—.” She bit her lip, stroking at his hair. It was quiet for a long moment. “Is that… is that what your parents did? Disappeared while you were asleep?”

“Everyone,” he said quietly. “Always they wait until I’m asleep. My parents left me asleep and went out at night. They died. I didn’t know what happened - I was four.”

She frowned, turning toward him a little, stroking at his hair gently. “I get it.”

“And then my best friend - I _think_ he’s my best friend. We run away from the orphanage and we make a plan to make money. A week later I wake up - he’s gone. Took my share of the food and ran without me. I was twelve.” He huffed. “And the woman I helped with the car shop - we recycled parts together. She disappeared one night. With all the money we’d made.”

“That’s _horrible_. I am so sorry,” she whispered. She turned her head, pressing a kiss into his hair. “I can’t promise to know what will happen in the future… but I _can_ promise I will never leave you sleeping. If I ever have to go, you’ll see me do it.”

“Sure?”

“You know that bit you told me about in one of your favourite _Feng Yun_ volumes… When Huo Bu Tian tells Wind he’ll always be watching out for him, even when he doesn’t think he needs to? Like that,” she whispered.

“You remembered?”

“I listened,” she corrected. “Go to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up - I _promise_.”

He didn’t move, didn’t react, for a long moment. Finally he inched up until he was lying more on her. His head slotted under her chin and his right arm went over her to slide round and under her shoulder blade. She turned toward him slightly, stroking at his hair.

As she studied the ceiling, letting aspects of the afternoon sink in, she felt his fingers in her back release just a little. Gradually, his whole hand relaxed - and then abruptly it was as if he were melting. Every muscle, every shred of tension just seemed to drain away. She was left holding onto an exhausted, vulnerable soul daring to trust that someone, somewhere, would just do what they said they would.

She lifted her paperback and shuffled awkwardly through to the first page with her thumb. She sniffed, shifted to be more comfortable, and slid her fingers through his hair as she got into the first paragraph.

ooOoo

“Morning everyone! Happy Monday!” Britt gushed as he walked through the open plan office. Heads came up and a few people waved.

“Morning Mr Reid!” said a young woman in his way. “Uh - Mike asked if you had time to see him in his office as soon as you’re free.”

“Hell yeah - anything for Mike,” he grinned. “And your name is…?”

“Veronica.”

“Veronica! Of course,” he said. “I’ll make sure I see him before I go. Hey - what do you think about a replacement party? For the one that didn’t end so well?”

“Oh, well…” She bit her lip, thinking. “I couldn’t make the last one - deadlines.”

“What?” he gasped, outraged. “Then we’re _definitely_ having another one - and it has to be a night when you’re available.”

“Uh - thanks?” she managed, surprised.

“Honest - get your boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, whoever and make sure they come too, ok?” He walked off, turning back to point at her. “Make sure you’re there, Veronica - won’t be a party without you!”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

He grinned and opened his office door, twirling in with a happy whistle. He turned and jumped, spotting Kato in his chair, tapping at his laptop. “Dude what the hell,” he hissed, closing the door quickly.

“My home wi-fi keeps stopping,” he muttered, pre-occupied.

“No I mean what are you doing here? You should be asleep or something,” he urged, trying to keep his voice down. He crossed to the back of the laptop, looking down at him. “Are you even supposed to be upright right now?”

“I’m fine,” he grumped.

“Like hell you are.”

Kato paused his hands. He looked up at him. “Saturday afternoon I sleep. Saturday _night_ I sleep. Sunday morning I sleep. Sunday afternoon I watch TV - then I sleep again. All night I sleep. I need to do something that is not _sleep_.”

“I get it but - just - be careful,” he hissed. “What if you tear some stitches or something?”

“They are ok,” he said. “Amy checked them before she left last night, changed the dressing.”

“She checked them?” he said, starting to smile. “That all she check?”

Kato glared at him. “How is the DA?” he asked deliberately.

He huffed, pulling out the small chair and plonking himself down in it. “I keep taking her like real food, loads of water - I got her a chair so she can at least lie down or get up.” He paused. “You know what? I think she’s bored of sleeping too.”

“Then let’s end this and we can let her go.”

“Well Lenore and I came up with a plan. We just need to be sure you’re ok to drive, buddy.”

“I can drive,” he said stiffly. “I can _always_ drive.”

“Yeah but I mean this plan is about _no-one_ leaving the car. So if you’re ok to drive, then you can drive. But if you’re not ready then we don’t do this.”

“I can do it,” he tutted.

Britt eyed him. He gestured with his chin to the laptop. “You ah… looking at cool new stuff for the car?”

“Yes.” His fingers tapped away, light, graceful and fast, as Britt just watched.

“You want any help?”

“Not yet.”

“Yeah, ok.” He sniffed to himself. “Listen I know you’re like hurt and everything, so…”

“What now?” Kato said curtly, looking at him in irritation.

“I was just gonna say - let’s not go to your favourite bar this week, ok? Maybe you should take it easy and then… we’ll just go another time.”

Kato glared at him. And then he huffed and looked at the laptop.

It was quiet for a long moment.

“How about…” he muttered.

Britt tried not to look eager. “Well?”

“We will move tonight on the next place?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then… I help you find the good Indonesian movie. I can rest and we can watch the movie at the same time. Before we go out and kick ass.”

“Awesome!” Britt grinned, slapping his hands together and rubbing. “Let’s do it!”

“I need a beer though.”

“With your drugs and stuff you have to take?”

“Alcohol does not affect the ones I have - that is a lie they tell to Americans to stop them getting drunk when they have STDs so they cannot go out and spread them,” he said dismissively. Britt looked at him - just looked. Kato shrugged. “Amy told me. She knows a lot about drugs.”

“Oh yeah? How many meth labs does she run?” he grinned.

“Her brother had cancer. Twice.”

Britt’s face fell. “Shit. Sorry.”

He shrugged. “She handles it. She is very strong like that.”

“I _told_ you she was cool,” Britt teased.

“She _is_ cool.” He hissed and moved on the chair, making Britt’s smile die. But then Kato was closing browsers and emptying cashes. His hands went to the table and he used it to help him get up slowly.

“You done?”

“I go to the garage - check to see if a delivery has come for the cars.”

“You know… if we don’t need it tonight then just leave it,” Britt said quietly.

“I check it’s come in - then I leave it in the box.”

“Yes - that,” Britt agreed, nodding. “What time tonight?”

“I need to go home first. Then I come to yours about… eight.”

“Done.”

Kato walked past him. “And now I will steal coffee and bagels from the break room,” he said as he reached the door.

“Take two,” Britt grinned.

“See you later.”

“Yep.”

He closed the door and was gone. Britt went round to the chair in front of the desk, sitting heavily. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his messages. Picking up on the end of a thread, he murmured to himself as he typed. “Made him… go home… to rest. Movie tonight… then… he just drives.” He pressed Send.

And then he opened the laptop and went about searching for cocktail recipes.

ooOoo

She lifted her coffee mug, found it empty, and got up from her desk. She looked over the partition to the next occupant. “Hey Sean - you want one?”

“No I’m good - thanks,” he said, totally pre-occupied.

Amy carried her mug through the open plan office and went down the stairs, walking into the break room. She wandered over to the machine and thought about trying to read the instructions yet again.

“I think you come here on purpose to get me to make you coffee,” said a voice from the doorway.

She turned and looked at Kato. “I think you follow me down here.”

“I am a very busy EA,” he blustered, sliding a hand down his black tie as he walked up to her. “I don’t have time to follow you around.” He reached past her, entirely too close, to pick up her mug and set it on the machine.

“I’m pretty sure you could take some days off,” she smiled. “The boss wouldn’t mind.”

“I sleep too much already - makes me cranky.”

She stood back, her arms folded, and watched him create two perfect cups of coffee. He offered one to her and she stepped forward to take it. He pulled it back, a small, naughty smile on his face as he walked backwards, making her follow him across the room. Finally he was in the corner of the room, out of view of the door, and he stopped. He put her cup down on the worktop to their left.

“Thank you for coming Saturday,” he said seriously.

“It really was no trouble,” she said. “I got to read a whole two books while you were asleep this weekend, so thank you.” She put a hand up and straightened his tie with a smile. “I think you need tonight to yourself, Cat That Walked By Himself.”

“A cat?” he asked, offended.

“Oh - it’s a story,” she said. “A very _good_ story. I have the complete Rudyard Kipling Animal Stories - I’ll lend it to you.”

“Animal stories?”

She grinned. “My mother gave me a copy when I was a child and I’ve never been without the one about the cat since.”

“Tomorrow night,” he said quietly. “Bring it over tomorrow night.”

“With beer and pizza?”

“Yes.” He paused, his eyes flicking down her face. “And then after…”

“What?” she teased.

“You asked me for a Chinese movie. Tomorrow night I show you a very _good_ one. Get ready for subtitles.”

“What is it about?” she asked, finding she had stepped just a tad closer.

He had one hand round his mug, the other in his pocket. “A man who has fourteen blades.”

“Action?”

“Yes - but also some love story. —Not like a Hollywood love story, but…” He paused, his eyes sliding up to the side as he thought about it. “ _Definitely_ a love story.”

“I’m intrigued,” she said with a smile. “Sounds like a good night in.”

“If you are there.”

She reached up and kissed him - it was a whole minute later that his hand came out of his pocket and pressed into the small of her back.

Something made a noise to his right. They parted quickly, Kato running a thumb over his bottom lip as he sniffed casually. Amy stepped back and turned, picking up her cup, to see who had walked in.

“Hey Steve,” she said brightly, taking a sip of coffee. “How are things in… uh… Impressions, right?”

“You know I can’t say,” he shrugged, watching his hands on the machine. “Anyway, I’m much too busy to talk out of turn.”

“I hope so,” she said politely.

“I also am busy,” Kato said, nodding to Steve and then looking at Amy. “We talk later.”

“Ok,” she shrugged.

He kept his eyes on his coffee and walked out. Amy sipped hers leisurely, then tilted her head. “You still going to the sports bar Friday night?”

“Yeah,” Steve smiled. “There’s a big game on - ice hockey. You finally going to come?”

“I might,” she said. “See you.”

“Yep. Have a good one,” he nodded, watching his coffee start to pour.

She smiled and walked out. Steve’s eyes followed her, and then he smiled to himself as he lifted his coffee cup. He whistled his way back out and across the office, finding his cubicle and seating himself.

The pod had three other people working away, their partitions not tall enough to block out the smug look on his face. The woman to his left paused and eyed him.

“What is it, Steve?” she asked curiously.

He straightened up. “Nothing, Linda,” he said loftily.

“Don’t give us that when you’ve got _that_ face on,” the man to his right said. “Come on - what do you know?”

“I just walked in on some first class making out, _that’s_ what I know,” he said.

“What?” the second woman, opposite him, managed. She cleared her throat, leaning across the table to keep her voice low. “Just now? In the break room?”

“Yeah,” he hissed back. “I mean I pretended I didn’t see anything, but…” He shrugged. “Classy, too. No torrid, badly written Hollywood stuff.”

“You gonna tell us who?” the man demanded quietly.

“I really shouldn’t,” Steve said.

“You really should, or I swear I will hit you with this stapler,” Linda said. “And don’t leave _anything_ out.”

“Well you know Amy, the woman in Support and Admin - does all the fact checking, always gets back to our emails?” he said quietly, looking at them all.

“Mmm… which one?” the man asked slowly. “I’m not good with names.”

“The _efficient_ one,” he said. “Brown hair, quite long - wears like grey and black skirt suits with a waistcoat - has that whole care-free Portuguese vibe about her?”

“Yeah - she’s cool. Chatty.”

“Well her.”

“Obviously,” Dave tutted. “And _who_?”

“You’ll never guess.”

“No we won’t - so just tell us!” Linda warned.

“What do I get?” he teased.

“You get to live,” Linda said meaningfully.

He chuckled. “Ok, fine. But you didn’t hear it from me.” He paused. “The EA from the top floor.”

“ _What?_ ” they all chorused.

Steve shushed them, noticing other pods now watching them. “I walked in and they pretended they were just getting coffee - but I know what I saw.”

“The EA?” Linda echoed. “The good looking one in the suits?”

“Well how many EAs are there in the building?” Steve shot back. “Yes, it was him.”

“Doug’s going to be crushed,” she sighed.

“Why?” Steve asked.

“He was hoping the EA was gay.” She sat back. “But hey, good for them. At least someone’s happy.”

The others grinned and Steve sipped his coffee. “They sure looked that way.”

ooOoo

Britt knocked on the door, swinging it open to poke his head in. “Hey, Mike. You wanted me?”

Mike Axford sat back from the desk and waved him in. “Britt. Just the person.”

He walked in and round, his hands in his pockets, appraising the decoration. “Man - it’s crazy that they could put this back nearly like it was.”

“It does almost feel like your father’s office,” Mike agreed. “Sit down, son. I have a question.”

Britt smiled, definitely bemused, before he found a chair opposite Mike’s desk and fell into it. “If it’s about the party and everything that ruined it, then—”

“It’s not about the party,” he said quietly. “I think we have a problem.”

“A problem? What kind of problem?”

Mike swung his chair to look at Britt directly. “It looks like someone is taking information out of the building. And giving it to people.”

“You mean like stealing it?” he gasped. “What the hell?”

“We had a story about a few gang members but withheld it until we could check the facts. The next thing we know, the Times runs it on its front page. Now luckily for us, our fact check turned up things that would have prevented us from running the story anyway - all that happened was the Times ended up printing the retraction that was all over the news last week.”

“Oh. I didn’t see that - you know I only get the Sentinel,” he muttered.

“So I have to ask… have you seen anything suspicious around here?”

Britt blinked. “Me? See anything - like - suspicious?”

“Yeah. I know sometimes you’re in late at night, or early in the morning. Was there anyone here who you thought shouldn’t be?” Mike asked.

He stared out of the window behind Mike, thinking hard. Eventually he shook his head slowly. “No. I mean… I don’t really know anyone.” He pointed a finger at the desk, wagging it slowly. “Lenore though - she seems to know everyone here. If anyone was going to pick up on something weird it would be her.”

“She’s not normally in the office, now she’s working from home.”

“Oh yeah,” Britt groused. “Bummer.”

“Well I’m sure we’ll root them out. In the meantime… be careful who you share info with.”

“Me? Like I know anything about anything?” Britt scoffed.

“Sometimes you know more than you think - and you never know who’s listening.”

Britt got up slowly. “Right. Well… I’ll keep my eyes peeled. Anything else?”

“I think that’s it,” he said. “We have a couple of juniors trying to see if they can locate a police informant, but apart from that…”

“Sounds way cool when you say it,” Britt grinned. “Keep it up, and all that.”

“Thanks, Britt.”

“No sweat.” He nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him.

And then he looked out over the busy floor, his eyes narrowing as he imagine who might be taking home more than their coffee mug.


	13. Chapter 13

The Black Beauty eased to a stop, Britt pressing a gloved hand up against the window to see out. “And it’s not even underground,” he said to himself.

Kato adjusted the rear view mirror, then looked to his left. “Seems like… just what we planned.”

“Hmm.” Britt leant back, then thought for a moment. “Does this seem… too easy?”

“I _like_ easy. Easy is no-one getting shot,” Kato grumped.

“Yeah - and don’t get me wrong, I think this is definitely the best way.” He paused. “But…”

“But what?”

“Well… what if they’ve moved?”

“Moved?”

“Yeah, like… left this place as a front, but they’re not here so we blow this place up and they still work.” Britt shrugged. “It’s what Lenore would do.”

Kato looked out of the window again. Something went round and round his head. And then he slid the keys from the ignition and pulled on the inner handle to open the door.

“Dude - wait,” Britt hissed. He scrambled out of the back of the car. He turned on Kato and reached out, grabbing his elbow. “Stop.”

He pulled his arm free. “I will go and see. If there is no-one in there I leave. If there _is_ someone in there I come back and we use the rockets,” he shrugged.

Britt’s face went hard and dark. “Ok now this is getting stupid,” he accused. “What is with you, man? Either I go look or no-one does - I’m not letting you go in there when you’re hurt already. What if there’s like an army of people in there and they see you?”

“I will just take a look - no-one will see _me_.”

Britt moved to stand in his way. “Uh… no.”

Kato went to dodge around him. Britt moved back into his path. “Come on, Britt.”

“No,” he said simply. “And I can do this all night. Look - we just sat and had a beer, watched a really _really_ terrific movie, and you barely talked at all. I _still_ don’t know why you think you can walk off a gunshot wound that went through a _vest_ first or why you won’t just give yourself time off to heal.” He paused. “I mean how are you even upright? When I got shot it was agony and I had no idea that bit of me was connected to all the others so it hurt when I wasn’t even using it - and that was my shoulder, dude. I didn’t need it to walk and sit up.” He stepped back, his hands out in surrender. “Come on, bro. Just… what is it?”

“I need to do something.”

“And I get that - but not this. I mean hell, teach Amy how to sketch or play piano or something - but not this. Not yet.”

“No, I need to—.” He paused, looking at his feet. “I need to do something. Something useful to someone.”

“Useful to someone _else_?” Britt prompted. “Let me tell you - that’s crap and it doesn’t get you anywhere.”

“And how do you know that?”

Britt pulled the brim of his hat down slightly. His hands flailed out to his sides before they slapped back into his coat. He huffed and his shoulders sagged. “When I was like fifteen, I was in this group of school kids who were the cool ones.” He snorted. “To begin with I didn’t know why they wanted me - I was this pudgy, privileged kid who got picked up by a driver every day in the very car you turned into the first Black Beauty - you know, the one that died at Chudnofsky’s construction site?” He sighed. “Then one day I figured it out. They didn’t want _me_ , they wanted someone who could get them things. I was useful to them, so… I traded being liked for being useful.” He shrugged. “I got used to it. Eventually though… I met a few adults and I thought hey, this isn’t what those school kids had been like. These grown-ups _like_ people, and they don’t want anything from me, they just want to hang out and be _friends_.” He put a hand on Kato’s shoulder. “ _You’re_ my friend, dude. Probably my closest, even with all your secrets and friends and hobbies and bars I don’t know about. So just…” He let his hand drop. “Life’s not just about being useful. Sometimes you just gotta have fun and be you.”

Kato looked up at him from behind his mask. “I make friends and they leave. I get to like people and they wait until I am sleeping and they run away. So no, I don’t want to be liked. I want to be useful, because then no-one will leave me behind again.”

“Oh… dude,” he sighed in anguish, unable to look away from his furious eyes. “That’s backwards. If they ran away? Then they didn’t deserve you anyway. And if you’re doing this whole Black Mask superhero thing just to be useful then I’ve got news for you. I don’t care - _no-one_ cares. You’re my friend, and I won’t leave you behind. Friends don’t do that. _I_ don’t do that - not to my friends.”

Kato shrugged, his hands out in resignation. “Everybody does, sooner or later.”

Britt folded his arms. “I’m hurt, dude - who stayed up all the time checking you weren’t going to swallow your own tongue or bleed again or hurt yourself waking up?” he countered. “ _I_ did. I sat there for like eight hours - and I didn’t even have my phone to play games on or anything. I had to make sure you were ok - I couldn’t just leave you there. What would I do without you around?”

“You see - to fix your cars and make your weapons.”

“ _No_ \- to watch cool movies with, and joke about my dad, and - and - and just be _friends_.”

“But if we didn’t do this at night then we wouldn’t speak about your dad.”

“ _Jesus!_ ” Britt exploded, throwing his hands up in the air. “You are the _dumbest goddamn genius_ I ever—!” He bit his upper lip, wiping his gloves down his face. “Yes! Yes we would! Because you’re one of the few people who knew him like I did! We’d be texting each other on weekends and going to parties and stuff! I wouldn’t leave you hanging, man! You’re my friend now, and you being a pouty little boy about it isn’t going to stop me!”

Kato’s head dipped until the top of his cap was all Britt could see. It was quiet for a long moment.

Britt stood back, watching his hat and hoping against hope.

Finally Kato sighed, his gaze still on his feet. “Ok.”

“Ok? Is that all you got - ‘ok’?” he chuckled. “Dude you are a tough one. Look, you’re my best friend - we’re supposed to be _xiang di_ , right? And there’s pretty much nothing you can do to escape that, so… Just deal with it, ok?” He paused. “Friends?”

Kato huffed.

Britt offered him a palm. “Friends?”

Kato lifted his head. He studied him for a long moment. Then he let his shoulders sag - but his palm came up and gripped Britt’s, making the taller man grin.

“Does this mean I’m actually getting through to you? Well _thank god!_ ” he cried, letting go of him. “Ok - get in the car and I’ll go see if anyone’s actually in there.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Trust me - just once I can do _one thing_ without screwing it up.”

“No - I mean…” Kato looked up at him. “Ok.” He turned and levered himself back into the car.

Britt turned and walked off, keeping his mouth firmly shut as he found an entrance to the building. He pushed through a side door, making sure it closed silently behind him. “ _Goddamn_ he’s hard work,” he sighed. “I am _exhausted_.”

The inside of the building was as quiet as the street outside; Britt literally tip-toed from the inside of the door to the nearest concrete stanchion. He plastered himself to it, waiting and listening. Then he peered round the edge, half-expecting someone to be standing there holding a large weapon.

There was no-one.

He pulled back anyway, frowning. _Maybe they have moved. So nothing goes boom tonight._ He huffed and looked back round. He was about to move when something caught his eye.

His body froze. He swallowed, his eyes ranging round in their sockets to try to work out what had made him stiffen. They landed on a shiny white square in the ceiling, far off to his right. On the outside was a tiny stalk with a glass ball on the end - and a red light blinking away at the bottom.

Very slowly he slid back away from the edge. When his back was against the concrete he lifted his right hand and adjusted his hat.

_A camera._

Then he grinned.

_Why have a camera if there’s no-one here?_

He nodded to himself. Then he slid to his right and looked around the other side of the concrete. He studied the walls, the ceiling, but could not find another camera anywhere.

He edged up and looked back round the left side. He squinted, checking angles and stanchions.

He pulled back. _I don’t think it saw me come in_ , he realised. _I think that other block is in the way_.

A noise made him freeze again; voices, some kind of scraping sound, possibly of metal. Waiting, holding his breath, he heard the voices get closer.

“… Just like that?”

“Yeah, man - you heard Sapphire. His head or our asses.”

“That’s ok with me. The moment I see this Green Hornet dude I am taking him out anyway. I don’t care if it gets me points with the boss.”

“Right.”

They laughed and Britt closed his eyes. He reached inside his coat, pulling out the Hornet gun.

Footsteps came closer.

He primed the weapon.

Feet on concrete echoed around the space.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he counted to three. Then he leapt out from behind the stanchion, his gun out and ready. “Alright - hold it!” he cried angrily.

The two men stopped dead. They looked at him. Then each other.

Then they rushed him.

He let off one shot before an almighty smack to his face threw him to the floor. He scrabbled for the gun but something _whoomf_ ed into his ribs so hard he was winded.

“You ain’t nothing,” said a voice above him.

His head came up. He caught sight of a shoe swinging back ready for an epic kick.

The grabbed the ankle and yanked with all his strength. The man cried out and lost his balance.

Britt got to his knees. As the man fell he grinned. He threw himself at him, elbow out. It slammed down right into the man’s stomach.

He coughed and tried to breathe as Britt climbed to his feet, pulling his coat straight. He ignored the whimpering and swearing to check the other man. He was flat on his back, totally unconscious with a dreamy smile on his face.

Britt bent down and picked up the gas gun, priming it ready. He walked over the man now moaning in pain on the floor. “I’m going to do you a favour,” he said. He aimed the gun at the man’s face. He fired. The little puff of green gas clouded the man’s head - and then he relaxed all over. Britt stood back, the gun by his side. “Yeah, see? Screw you, dude.” He opened his coat to put the gun away.

A metal scraping sound made his head snap up and round.

A door at the end had flown open. People were pouring out of it - stampeding toward him.

“Shit!”

He turned and ran for the exit.

ooOoo

Kato put a hand to his side, pressing slightly as he let himself slouch back in the driver’s seat. He sniffed, then bounced the keys in his right hand, humming to himself.

His head went left and right in a sarcastic wobble. His voice went low and stilted: “‘Dumbest genius I ever met’,” he mimicked. He pulled a face, bobbling his head again in resentment. Then he paused. “Dumbest… _genius_.” He sat back and frowned in thought.

Finally he slid the keys in the ignition, turning it onto the first step to see the dashboard and peripherals light up. His index finger smoothed across the toggle switches, finding them all in the right places and ready for action. Nodding to himself, he lifted both hands and slid them around the steering wheel, the glide of his gloves over the much-loved curve making him smile.

A _smack_ and a _bang_ made him jump. He twisted to look over his left shoulder - and hissed in pain.

The rear door opened up. “Go! Go! Go!” Britt cried.

Kato turned the key and yanked on the gear stick. The Black Beauty’s tyres spun only for a second. The back door slammed. The car gripped the tarmac. It propelled itself forward with supernatural strength. It leapt out of its spot and hared down the alley.

Kato glanced up at the rear view mirror. “What the hell, Britt?”

“They’re after us!” he cried, finding the right way up on the back seat. He squirmed around and then put his hands to the back of the seat to look over the top. “Faster, dude!”

“They are running!” he shot back. “We have a car!”

“Oh - right - yeah,” Britt blurted. “Go round the block and come back - take out that building.”

“So there _were_ people in there?”

“Yes! I got like two of them but they must have seen me on the camera - like a whole city came running after me!”

Kato took a harsh left. Britt was rolled around the back seat. He righted himself and pushed his mask further up his nose.

“Rockets?” Kato offered.

“Yes! Finally! Some rockets!” he grinned. “Do it!”

“Get in the front - you do it.”

“You’re letting _me_ touch the controls?”

“I’m driving,” Kato said. A subtle bit of braking and he was wrenching the wheel left again. The car shot round the corner. It fish tailed into the other, empty lane but then snapped back straight. “One more corner then we are back at the same place,” he said. “Come on! Get ready!”

Britt climbed over the seat. He looked down to see Kato opening up the cover over the controls. “Aw yes!” he gushed, rubbing his gloves together. “Which ones!”

“The red ones,” Kato said. He reached forward to the dashboard with a hiss of pain. He pushed at small white buttons, a tiny read-out above showing numbers. He pressed again to make the numbers change. He sat back. “Hold on.” He braked and yanked - the car twisted round the final corner. “Ok - now! The red ones on the left!”

“Your left or my left?”

“We have the same left!”

“Just kidding,” Britt chuckled. He snapped down the first two switches.

The car gave a rumble and shivered. Britt watched in excitement as two balls of white fire leapt out from somewhere under the bonnet. They shot down the road on a curve - and slammed into the building.

People - brickwork - it all went flying.

“Woohoo!” Britt cried. He pressed the next two.

They followed the first, snaking at a harder angle as the car picked up speed. One rocket disappeared into the smoke and debris - the other locked on and followed. A huge mushroom of fresh smoke, dirt and debris was thrown up behind them.

Kato stamped on the brakes. He looked up in the mirror then snatched the gear lever. He reversed up as fast as he dared, then brought the Beauty round to face the carnage. “Well?”

“Dude - this is awesome,” Britt breathed. He waited until the night breeze had moved some of the smoke. Then he chuckled, rubbed his gloves together, and snapped down two more toggle switches.

This time the two rockets shot directly into the gigantic new hole in the side of the building.

They waited.

And waited.

And then the rockets finally hit something.

A horrible groaning sound made them both lean toward the front windscreen. Britt put a hand out to his left - but Kato’s was already heading for his coat. They gripped each other’s shoulders as they craned their necks _up_.

“Shit shit shit!” Britt blurted in realisation. “Go before we get pancaked!”

Kato grabbed the steering wheel. His foot went to the floor.

The Beauty shot off.

Right before half of the building’s roof crashed into where it had been parked.

ooOoo

The car rumbled onto the special markings on the floor of the garage, the engine _chug-chugg_ ing with patience.

“I can’t believe how cool that was!” Britt cried, his mask already in his hands.

“You always say that,” Kato said, cutting the engine. He sat back, blowing out a sigh.

“Because it was amazingly cool!” He opened the back door and slid out, pumping his hands in the air. “Woohoo! We are the shit, dude!”

Kato pushed himself out of the driver’s seat. “I guess.”

“Like that Indonesian dude in the film we saw tonight!” He turned to Kato, his hands up as he bobbed and weaved, jabbing soft punches just short of his black coat. “This whole night has been everything!”

Kato put his hands up, smiling. “Ok, it was amazing.”

“Yeah, man! Let’s get a drink - blow off some steam!”

He sighed, his shoulders sagging. “I think I need to sleep.”

Britt forced himself to calm down, blowing out a long breath to try to slow his heart. “Right - right. Yeah - pretty sure you should sleep some more. You wanna crash here or go home?” he asked, his hands falling. “I mean there are like a million rooms to choose from.”

“I take my bike,” he said, pulling off his hat and then his mask.

“Ok but be careful,” Britt said. “And don’t come into the office tomorrow, ok?”

Kato waved his hat over his shoulder, already undoing the secret fasteners on the coat.

“Alright, well… You get going. I’ll just… uh… get a beer - maybe watch that movie again. Be careful on the ride home, ok?” Britt grinned to himself and stepped out of the garage, disappearing into the house.

Kato undid all the fasteners and stripped off the jacket, sliding it off as carefully as he could, reluctant to pull on his side. He folded everything up as he crossed the garage to his bike. Sliding it all into the garbage bin liner in the rear box, he snagged the keys and his jacket from the handle and sat himself down. He eased the jacket on carefully, found his helmet, and started up the bike.

It was a cool, relaxing journey back to his apartment. As he opened up the front door and carried the bag in, he let himself yawn. He dumped it at the side of the door and pulled off his helmet, scrubbing a hand through his hair. Heading across the room to the refrigerator in the darkness, he stumbled on something. He looked down and picked it up, finding it a black Converse trainer.

His head snapped around and he reached out, turning on the lamp. His eyes went to the woman’s bag on the couch, the other Converse shoe by his boots. A lump in the bed in the far corner made a noise; he snapped off the light quickly. He dropped the shoe, went over to the bag by the door, and yanked it up so fast he nearly hit himself in the face with it. Opening the front door as close to silently as he could get, he hurried down the steps and put it back in the storage box on his bike. He looked down at his shirt, then ripped off his jacket. He unbuttoned the shirt half way before he panicked and instead yanked it off over his head to leave him in a black cotton sleeveless tee. He pulled the jacket back on quickly, then folded the shirt up and sealed it in the storage box. He hurried back up the steps and into the apartment. He closed the door silently and leant back on it, taking a deep breath and releasing it very slowly.

Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound. He waited until his heart had slowed, and then locked the front door. He peeled off his jacket carefully and placed it silently on the sofa. Pulling off his boots and leaving them under the tiny table by the kitchenette, he went through to the bathroom and poked his head in.

Everything seemed the same - except for a woman’s toiletries bag by the sink. He frowned, then pulled back out, going back round to the main room. He turned the lamp back on and then wandered over to the bed in the corner. He sat on the edge, then turned himself as much as possible to twist as far as he dared to his left.

Amy was asleep, her back to him, curled up in a small ball. The sheets were over her up to her shoulder, letting him see the familiar design of a t-shirt. He put a hand to her shoulder, smoothing it down slightly, rocking her.

She jerked and opened an eye. “Who’s that?” she demanded in fear.

“It’s me,” he said, surprised. “You’re in my apartment. How did you get in?”

She pushed herself onto her back, and his theory about her having stolen one of his t-shirts was confirmed. Her hand went out and captured his gratefully, and she let herself smile. “Hi.”

“We didn’t say we would meet tonight.”

“No - I—.” She made herself sit up. “Sorry. I kinda came in with the delivery guy. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Delivery guy?” he frowned. Then he got a good look at her face, her tired eyes. “Is everything… ok?”

“No,” she said miserably. “I wanted to see you, because I feel better when I see you. But you weren’t here and I really didn’t want to go home again so I thought I’d wait, and then it got later and later and I just - well a guy turned up in a van so I lied and said I was waiting for him and his delivery… and I kind of let myself in when he was bringing in that big box so… I’m sorry,” she said miserably. “I shouldn’t have just let myself in because this is your private space and now it’s like I’ve broken in and—.” She bit her lip, and he realised he could see water in her eyes.

“What happened?” he asked. She breathed slowly, her eyes squeezing shut. “Did someone hurt you?” he asked, his voice going hard. “Who?”

“No-one has…” She opened her eyes. “Just some bad news. About my brother.”

“ _Bad_ -bad?” he dared. She nodded. He pulled on her arm and she shuffled up, putting her arms round him. She held on, keeping her breathing controlled. His arms went round her and he suppressed a hiss of pain as it twisted his side. “Is he ok?”

“No. He’s had a relapse. Cancer - _again_.”

He had no words. He just held onto her, waiting her out.

Eventually she pushed him back, looking at his shoulder. She smoothed a hand over it, again and again. “I’m sorry I just followed the guy in - he said he had keys from the office and I lied and said I forgot mine.”

“I don’t care,” he said quietly. “I don’t want you to be alone when you’re upset.” He paused. “I… don’t want you to be upset.”

She stroked a hand down his face and offered him a sad smile. “You’re such a decent person,” she allowed. “I’ve met a lot of assholes in my life. And life has been unfair. But you… you’re like a… something to make up for all the bad things.”

He slid his hand into her hair, holding her still to push a kiss into her forehead. “Let me get out of my work clothes, then we sleep.”

“Uh…”

He paused, assessing her face. “Or… you want me to take you home?”

“Absolutely not,” she scoffed, wiping at an eye. “I just…” She sighed. “Now you’re here, I don’t want to sleep. I want you to take my mind off… _everything_.”

“TV?” he offered.

“Oh! That movie! The one about the fourteen swords.”

“Blades.”

“That one - can we watch it?”

“Now?” he asked, surprised.

“Or… not,” she said awkwardly.

He smiled, brushing hair away from her face. “I can watch that movie again and again - anytime.”

“Sure?”

He got up, walking off toward the far corner. “I get changed first,” he said - then stopped short. A large box was sitting in the way, the image of a television on the front. “What’s this?”

“The delivery guy said it was a TV.”

“Where did it come from?”

“I have no idea,” she frowned, turning and pulling sheets up around her. “You mean you didn’t buy it?”

“No,” he grumped, sliding a hand over the top. He huffed. “It looks new.”

“So… who got it for you?”

He crouched to look at the back, finding a receipt taped to it. He pulled it free to read it. “B Reid, on behalf of the Daily Sentinel. A new TV.” He rolled his eyes with a worlds-weary huff. Then he opened up the flap along the top edge, peering in. He pulled out another piece of paper and his face registered surprise. “Oh. _Not_ new.”

“What? He got you a second-hand TV? Rude,” she giggled.

“He wouldn’t do that,” he said, bemused. “He would just tell Lenore to buy me one…” He paused, flapping the paper idly. “And _she_ would know to get a used one.”

“Why do you want a used one?” she yawned.

He didn’t look at her. “Like the refrigerator.”

She ‘oh’ed, nodding. “Yeah… you did say. Sorry.”

“Well… now we have a big TV to watch the movie on.” He got to his feet. “Don’t move.”

She grinned, bending her knees to wrap her arms around them, as he disappeared off round the corner.

Finally he re-appeared in a simple red t-shirt and joggers, carrying an innocuous looking lead.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“I have a DVD player… somewhere,” he muttered, turning to look around. He scratched his head, thinking.

She grinned and scrambled out of bed, pulling her purloined basketball shorts straight and going to the cupboards under the front windows. “Is this it?”

He looked over to see her lifting a silver box, about the size of five DVDs cases stacked on top of each other. “Uh… that’s a VCD player.”

“What’s the difference?”

He walked over, taking it from her but then crouching to see where she had found it. “It won’t play DVDs. Hang on…” He pulled out another silver item, then got up with a smile. “This is it.”

She folded her arms as he went back to the TV in the box. “I’ll… make some tea.”

“Ok.” He pulled parts and leads from the box as she went to the kitchenette, emptying out a transparent glass teapot and opening up the diffuser ball from inside, chucking all the cold, wet tea leaves in the bin.

In the time it took her to boil the kettle and fill the teapot with fresh water, he appeared to have the TV and the player plugged in and connected to each other. She opened up the cupboard by her head, finding assorted boxes of tea leaves - none labelled in English. “So… what colour tea box am I using?”

“Mmmm - the green one,” he said over his shoulder. “It won’t keep you awake.”

She took it down and opened it up, shovelling one teaspoon of leaves into the diffuser ball. She clicked it shut and dropped it carefully into the hot teapot. Dusting off her hands, she got together the teapot and two small mugs without handles on a wooden tray. She carried them all over to the low table in front of the sofa. He was getting back to his feet, pressing at the remote control before noting it wasn’t working. He shook it, then realised there were no batteries in it.

“And we were so close,” she giggled.

He put a finger up. “Wait.” He went to the row of pot plants on the windowsill, feeling around by the largest plate. He retrieved two batteries, pulling the back off the remote and sliding them in. “There.”

She shook her head. “How much stuff do you have just stashed around this place?” she teased.

He looked at her, then the table with tea, then back at her. “Are you hungry?”

“Don’t tell me you have chocolate.”

“Uh… no,” he said. “Sorry.”

“Well what _do_ you have?”

He handed her the remote and walked off toward the kitchenette. She pointed it at the TV, making sure the volume was low before pressing buttons to get the DVD drawer to open. She grinned at her ingenuity before realising she had no idea where the actual DVD was. She looked over at him.

He was in the kitchen, rummaged around in a large drawer. He pulled out a metal tin and carried it back over. “Almond biscuits.”

“Like cookies?”

“Kinda.” He prised the lid off and she looked in.

“Ooh - _interesting_.” Inside were lots of small round items, vaguely off-yellow in colour and smelling wonderfully of warm crunchiness. “Well I’ll definitely try those.”

He put the tin on the table and she got comfortable on the couch. He went back to a pile of books in the corner of the room, lifting them all until he pulled out two DVD cases. Keeping hold of the top one, he put everything else down and went over to the DVD tray. He slotted the disc in and pressed the button to close the drawer.

He went back to the sofa and flumped down in the middle, wincing and putting a hand to his side. She shuffled up to lean on his left arm as a large copyright warning appeared on screen, changing into the same screen but in Chinese, before it gave way to the main menu.

“Now if I think I’m totally missing the point then I’ll have to pause it and ask you for help,” she warned. “How many times have you seen this?”

“Many,” he allowed with a smile.

“And you really don’t mind me asking silly questions about what’s happening?”

“No,” he grinned. “It means you are interested, so maybe it’s a good movie.”

She scooted closer to him, bringing her feet up to perch on the end of the cushion in front of her. She leant into him and he pulled his left arm free, putting it round her instead and pulling her in. Her knees collapsed until they were leaning in his lap, and she let out a long sigh. Then she let her head fall back to look up at him. “Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked.

“For being you.”

His grin widened about three inches, and she swore he grew an inch taller. He leant round and kissed her, just long enough to make her start to giggle.

Music from the TV made them jump as the DVD had given up waiting and just dived straight into the main feature. They settled into a very relaxed lean, as the movie started to unfold.


	14. Chapter 14

Lenore picked up her phone, finding the right name almost without looking. She pressed it and waited for it to connect, setting the phone on the table by her laptop.

There was a click and she tapped the ‘speaker’ icon. “Britt?” she asked.

“Hey. What can I do for you?”

“We have Hornet mail.”

“…And you don’t sound happy about that,” he realised. “What’s going down?”

“It’s from Sapphire. She wants to call a truce.” She paused as he didn’t reply. “You know it’s a trap, right?”

“Well - yeah - of course it’s a trap,” he blustered. “What do we do?”

“Well… I think you should go - but we also tip off the police so they get there as she turns up. You escape and she gets arrested with some of her product.”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “Exactly that.”

“Right, so… do you want me to set something up?”

“Absolutely. This is it, right? This is the where your plan worked and now we do the end bit - we take her down just like you said - easy.”

“Ok, yeah. So… let me think about this. I’ll get back to you.”

“Thanks Lenore.”

She cut the line and sat back, thinking very seriously. Eventually she got up and went into the kitchen, pouring herself some fresh coffee.

ooOoo

Britt went through the door to the garage to find Kato, in slightly used overalls and curiously bright white, thin gloves, bending over some kind of large dark box, barely six inches high. He walked up behind him, slapping at his shoulder. “Whatcha doin’?”

Kato didn’t even jump. “Something very important.”

“Ok, so… we roll in a few. You ready?”

“I will be. When this is done.”

Britt removed his hand then peered over at the box too. It was black - apparently something under the inner glass-effect screen was obscuring everything underneath. Steam was escaping from the corners in patient wisps, making Britt stand straight and back up one. “What is it? What are you making now, weapons genius?”

“I am… not making… anything,” he muttered. A _ping_ went off and he straightened up, undoing latches with his gloved hands. The screen sprang up and Kato lifted items out of it - black and very floppy.

He turned and Britt grinned. “You’re pressing your _outfit_? Dude.”

“It was in my bike box all night and all this morning. It stank. I washed it and now it’s pressed dry.” He shook it slightly, making the jacket fall just so. “And I had to fix the bullet hole in it.”

“What did you do, sew it up? What are you like a seamstress now?”

“It’s hard being me, having all these skills that you do not.”

Britt paused - then saw Kato was grinning. “You sneaky bastard - you’re even using a sense of humour against me now?” he chuckled, shaking his head.

“Oh - why you buy me a TV?” he asked.

Britt paused, confused. “Oh that,” he realised. “Yeah well… I thought if Amy comes to your place to watch cool movies then… you only had that tiny set, right? It was _terrible_ \- you can’t expect your girlfriend to put up with that, right? So yeah, you have a work perk like a brand spanking new, state of the art screen,” he grinned.

Kato shook his head. “Lenore got a very good one.”

“Of course she did!” he chuckled.

“I didn’t need you to buy me a TV - I can buy my _own_ TV,” he said.

Britt put his hands up in surrender. “Before this turns into an argument, let me just say - yes I know you can. I _also_ know that you’re way too busy thinking of Black Beauty improvements and cool stuff for the outfits and everything. You never think about your own place. So I just… helped. Just this once.” He paused. “I mean… that’s what friends do, right?”

Kato looked at the floor for a long moment. Then his head tilted, nodding. “Yes. Yes it is.”

“Well then,” he said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “You ready to go now?”

“I get changed,” he said, walking off.

“You always leave it in your bike?” Britt called after him.

Kato paused by the door. “Never. But… Amy was there so I had to hide it.”

“What?” he spluttered. “Did she see you in it?”

“No - I am not stupid,” Kato tutted.

“Well… wow. I guess you’ll have to hide a bunch of stuff from her - like all the time,” Britt blinked. “I never thought about that.”

“I did,” Kato allowed quietly. And then he stepped through the door to the house and disappeared.

Britt frowned to himself, looking around the garage slowly, taking in all the tools, the gear, the work that had gone on without him even knowing what any of it was. He looked up at the large plastic exhaust pipes fitted to the ceiling, shaking his head.

He took himself over to the red hotrod parked in the centre of the garage, running an index finger down the front wing. He smiled and stood back, then looked around. “So… where’s the switch for the Black Beauty?” He bent and read some switches on the wall, finding them to be some kind of power kill-switch in case of emergency. Investigating all four walls and the shelves scattered around them did nothing to help.

Kato appeared through the door, now in his black trousers and coat but carrying his gloves, his mask sitting in his hat in his other hand. “What?”

“How do you get it to spin?”

Kato smiled, putting on his mask and then his hat. “Like this,” he said, sliding a hand round the brim.

There was a beep and Britt stepped back quickly as the floor opened up by his feet. The hotrod spun and sank into the floor, bringing up the Black Beauty instead. “ _Still_ way cool,” he breathed, putting a hand up.

Kato slapped it with his. “I know, right?” He sniffed. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Britt grinned, grabbing the rear door handle and piling in. He bounced on the comfy seat, pulling the door shut and resting his elbows on the seat in front. “Ok, so here’s the thing.”

Kato sat slowly, guiding his door shut. He put the keys in the ignition. “What?”

“Well… You know how Sapphire must be like super mad at us, right? And that Charlie guy wants to kill us both?”

“Well?”

“So Lenore set this up for us but she says it’s a full-on trap.”

“That is why she will tip off the police too, right?” Kato asked, watching him in the rear-view mirror. “We know this. What is your point?”

“Well… be careful, dude. I mean really.”

“I will not get shot again,” he scoffed. “Lenore said we go in, pretend to talk about agreements for a truce, then… the police will arrive and we all run. You and me get away and Sapphire and Charlie are caught.” He paused. “Then we can go to a good bar I know. They are open all night but do _not_ ask where they get their beer.”

Britt grinned. “Seriously? Well then, Kato my friend,” he announced, patting his shoulder, “let’s roll.”

ooOoo

Sapphire grinned, her phone pressed to her ear. “Is that so?” She listened. “Well. You’ve done me a great service. Perhaps I’ll get rid of the worst of the incriminating photos I have on you. —Perhaps. It depends how it turns out tonight, doesn’t it?” She smiled. “However… I appreciate the obsequious attempt to get into my good books, in the hope that I’ll stop blackmailing you into doing whatever I want.” She touched at the red button, ending the call and slipping her phone back into her pocket.

She walked out of the office and found the underground complex hard at work; people were bagging up all manner of illegal substances, boxing up ammunition, or stacking used bills in neat piles, complete with rubber bands. Her arms folding by themselves with happy abandon, she was content to watch the industriousness around her.

Finally she turned and put her fingers in her mouth, letting out a piercing whistle that made most people hunch their shoulders in surprise. “Everyone!” she called.

People halted, hands went down, caps went back, ears opened.

It made her smile. “It’s time. I need twenty of you to volunteer for eliminating-our-opposition duty. Anyone who takes out the Green Hornet tonight gets an extra special reward.”

The sudden flurry of movement made her grin wider. People reached under benches, into clothing - in all kinds of places - to get their hands on automatic weapons.

“Charlie!” she called. “Charlie!”

His head popped out round a door on the other side of the office. He waved a hand to get her attention, then weaved through everyone to come to a stop in front of her. “It’s on?” he asked.

“Oh, it’s on,” she grinned. “The Green Hornet and his little sidekick are on their way to the meet. These guys can have the Hornet - a few good bullets and he’ll be out of our hair permanently.”

“And the little sidekick?”

“I promised you could get revenge, and I stand by that,” she said, patting his shoulder. “Pick twenty people with good aim and let’s get to the cars.”

“Yes boss.”

ooOoo

The Black Beauty rolled past the rather dingy-looking shop front. Standing by itself on the street corner, it was giving off a definite seen-better-days vibe, the windows broken or boarded up, and the door itself looking like a gust of wind might take it out for good.

Kato gave a ‘hmm’; he did not stop the car. Britt’s mouth opened but he shut it again quickly, choosing to watch instead of ask. The car pulled round the side of the building, then down the back - and then Kato spun the wheel, taking them down another street, away from the building. He slowed to a crawl before the Beauty mounted the kerb, coming to a stop under a particularly large shop awning.

“Why here? Now we have to walk,” Britt asked carefully.

“Because if this goes bad we can run this far.” Kato paused. “When the police turn up they will block every road. This one cuts through to the underpass - we can get to anywhere from there and they won’t think to block this road.”

“You’re always planning,” Britt nodded. “Let’s go.”

“You have your Hornet gun?”

“Of course,” Britt grinned. “Never leave home without it, partner.” He opened the door and slid out. Kato appeared from the front and they kept to the dark side of the pavement, hurrying back toward the building.

As they approached it something flashed off to their left - Britt blinked and put a gloved hand up as if shielding his eyes. Kato pushed at his shoulder. “Don’t stop.”

Britt opened a metal door in the corner of the building and poked his head in. Then he slipped inside, leaving it open for Kato. He looked around suspiciously before going in and closing the door behind him.

A car and a van pulled up behind the building. They had barely come to a stop before both of them had their doors flung open and people piled out as if late for a championship sports match.

Charlie stood tall, making sure his handgun was still in the back of his jeans. “Ok - keep it quiet,” he said urgently. The mix of men and woman all went silent, watching him. “We don’t tip him off till the last minute, right? When things get hot you shoot anyone who isn’t me or the boss, got that?”

People nodded and waved a hand up in silence.

Sapphire appeared behind him. “Charlie’s half right - he and I go in there. You guys hide yourselves - standard ambush procedure. We give the signal and you lot jump out like the evil A-Team and shoot _everything_ \- apart from the sidekick in black. You grab him and sit on him and you call for Charlie.” She paused. “Ready?”

Again, silent nods and hands made her aware she was the only one not already leaning toward the door to get started.

She grinned. “Then by all means, ladies and gents - let’s swat ourselves a really annoying Hornet and hogtie that smart-ass sidekick.”

ooOoo

Britt looked around the empty floor, finding nothing but a dusty cement surface, pockmarked and crumbling walls, and a ceiling with enough gigantic holes to show him that upstairs was no better. “Charming place,” he muttered, pulling his gloves on more firmly.

Kato was looking straight up. “I don’t like this.”

“Yeah - you keep saying,” Britt hissed at him. “What choice did we have?” He glanced at him but found Kato pointing to the ceiling. He turned and looked, spotting a shiny black bowl-shaped item set into the corner. “Like the last place,” he realised. “Hey - that’s a camera, right? I mean a proper HD thing?”

“Yes,” Kato said, his hand dropping. “They had time to put that in here - they set us up.”

The door behind them opened and Sapphire stepped through. She opened her hands, grinning. “Hey fellas,” she grinned. “Long time no see. How have you been? I mean apart from all those nights spent blowing the shit out of my operation.”

Britt stood taller, clearing his throat. “Sapphire. I promised I’d make life difficult for you.”

“And here we are,” she said, coming to a stop. She laced her hands in front of her, looking Kato up and down. “Such a waste,” she sighed.

“What is?” Britt asked suspiciously.

“That two fine gentlemen such as yourselves won’t be working for me after all. I mean, you’re funny, Green Hornet, I’m not going to lie. And your little shortstop is fast with his feet. But I’m afraid we’ve come to the end, here. You will not be working with me any time soon.” She paused to smile. “Or breathing, come to mention it.”

Kato’s hands snapped out as if for balance as he took a cautious step back.

Britt looked around, then up at the camera. “How long were you watching us?”

“I have people for that,” she grinned. “A lot of people.” She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled.

The sounds of multiple weapons being cocked made Britt’s ears prick up - and then want to run for cover. Heads appeared out of nowhere and suddenly people had flooded into the room, two or three deep in every direction.

“Ok everyone - have fun. Remember we want to save the man in black here for Charlie. Other than that? Go nuts. Oh - be careful where you aim. Those bullets should go through an entire person quite easily. Having said that, I’ll be on my way.” She turned.

“What?” Britt scoffed. She paused, then looked at him. “Is that it? You’re not a very good bad guy, lady. You’re supposed to watch to make sure we’re really dead.”

She smiled. “Still making jokes, despite your imminent death.”

“It may not be as imminent as you think,” he said haughtily. “See, you’re not the only wanted person in town. I’m pretty sure the cops are looking for me. Oh and this guy here?” he asked, chucking a thumb at Kato, who was still watching the room in case anyone moved. “He’s not a sidekick, lady. He’s my _partner_. Deal with it.” He let his hand drop. “Once the police figure out where we are they’ll be all over this little meet-and-greet that contains those non-high street bullets you sell.”

A loud creak with a definite masonry feel to it made Britt and Kato look up.

Sapphire chuckled, drawing their attention. “Wait - don’t tell me you _called_ them to tip them off?”

“Maybe I didn’t have to,” Britt shrugged. “I mean not for nothing but we are pretty wanted.”

“So it was _you_ ,” she said, folding her arms. “Let me tell you a funny story.”

“I never turn down a woman who wants to lie to me,” Britt said with a lop-sided grin.

She tutted, wagging a finger at him. “No no, Hornet. I’m not going to lie to you. In fact, this may be the last true thing you ever hear - in this life.”

“Then what is it?” Kato asked, his hands still out. His eyes were flicking around at the people and their weapons in the rough circle.

“Well, some years ago I happened to find myself in San Fransisco, courtesy of one Chudnofsky and his belief that I should be running a sleepy branch of his operation out that way. It was chickenshit, so I worked hard to be in a position to come back to LA. I should thank you for getting rid of him by the way - without your help I wouldn’t be here today.”

“And you’re welcome,” Britt said suavely.

Kato smacked the back of his glove into his elbow. Britt didn’t look away from her.

She grinned. “So when you _did_ eliminate him and I came back to town, I brought two things with me.”

“Don’t tell me - your industrial strength hairdryer and Charlie?” Britt asked.

“Ah - you see Charlie and I have a working partnership that predates ‘Frisco,” she said. “I don’t have to bring him anywhere. He’s just… there.”

“So what two things?” Kato asked.

“One, I had a nice bright young thing working for the local rag. Great at digging for stories, excellent at fact-checking and I have to say, a usefully voracious reader. And when I arranged for them to get out of town and come to the bright lights of LA, they were only too glad to get in on the act.” She paused. “However, the most important thing I brought with me was a cop who was in need of a side-job, due to their unfortunate ability to lose money on horse races.”

“Oh,” Britt swallowed.

“Yeah, so you see… When you tipped off the cops tonight, my informant tipped off _me_. And now here we are… and the cops will be heading to the wrong side of the city. Sorry boys,” she announced. “Looks like you’re outnumbered here. Unless you happen to have brought back-up?”

A louder creaking sound made them all look up.

Right before several hundred pounds of concrete came crashing down.

Britt and Kato leapt back, narrowly escaping death by squashing.

Sapphire and most of the gun-owners plastered themselves against the walls. They waved concrete dust from their faces, coughing and struggling to breathe.

Kato gripped Britt’s shoulder and shoved. They turned for the exit.

Two men closed in front of it. Britt swung a clumsy haymaker at one. It swept him clean off his feet. Kato’s gloves flew into the other man’s face so fast Britt was sure even the concrete dust didn’t have time to avoid them. He plummeted to his right, unconscious.

They bundled toward the door. Britt slammed it open but Kato turned away. A roundhouse kick floored another man with a weapon. Britt grabbed the back of his collar and swung him toward the door just feet away. They reached for it.

“Hey!” came an angry cry from behind them. “Get _off_ me you asshole!”

Kato slipped Britt’s grip and turned. Britt floundered, his head going to the exit, then Kato, then the exit. Then he turned to follow him.

Charlie had grabbed someone under the arms, lifting them clear of the floor. They were kicking their feet angrily, struggling to get free or at least do him some harm.

“I’m not alone you know! When the others see this on the feed they’ll storm this place and kick your ass!”

Britt stared; his mouth fell open. Kato’s eyes could not go any wider.

“Shut up!” Charlie ordered, giving the woman in his grip a shake.

“Who is this now?” Sapphire demanded. She stalked up to the woman, waving at Charlie. He went to set her down but she lashed out with a foot. A black Converse trainer caught him square in the knee.

“Ow!” he warned, letting her go.

She plummeted to the floor with a crash and a curse. She swept her brown hair out of her face and spat out concrete dust. “I’m warning you!” she seethed. “You’ve got like a minute before this place gets _stormed!_ ”

Kato took a step forward. Britt grabbed his arm to stop him. And then he shoved and before he knew it he had Kato safely behind him. “Who’s this?” he blustered. “Another one of your informants?”

“How dare you!” the woman hurled. She got to her feet, brushing down her skinny jeans and leather jacket. She fished out a lanyard and lifted the plastic pass on the end. “Amy De Souza - Daily Sentinel.” She paused, and there was a horrible silence. “Yeah - _that_ Daily Sentinel. You lot are _screwed_ \- that camera’s been filming you since you came in. We’ve got footage of all of you arriving, your cars, your faces - everything. And that camera is hooked into the wifi - it’s been streaming _live_ to the Sentinel all night. We’ve got you.” She folded her arms proudly.

Kato’s head came round Britt’s shoulder. His mouth opened. Britt stepped forward, pushing him back. “Oh no,” he announced hastily. “Looks like we should make a run for it.”

Sapphire pulled a gun from the back of her trousers. “Well if they know we’re here and what we look like… then there’s no point running.” She lifted the gun and aimed it at Amy’s face.

Kato’s left hand swept around Britt to launch something. It whizzed across the divide and stabbed right into her hand. She cried out and dropped the gun.

All hell broke loose. Shots were fired - Amy screamed - something smashed into the floor. Britt grabbed the first person and simply punched them in the face. He booted another one in the knee, elbowed another in the stomach. A fist caught him and he went into the wall. He snatched at whatever he could and blindly kicked at their midsection.

Kato’s hands went out in warning. He stepped back - and his other foot had windmilled backward into a man with a gun. Without even looking he stepped back and did it again into the next man. Then he turned and one foot flicked up into a groin, the other into a face. Someone grabbed his shoulder. He butted his head back; he twisted and his foot shot out. The man was lifted off his feet and smashed back into someone else.

He turned and fought his way through three people. His glove closed round Amy’s wrist and he hauled her up - she was pulled with him toward the exit.

She twisted her wrist and yanked, breaking his hold. As he turned she picked up the nearest chunk of rubble. She swung it round for all she was worth. It hammered into his head to send him into the ground.

“You crazy broad!” Britt accused. “He was trying to get you out of here!”

He snatched her off her feet by the waist. As she struggled and swore Britt heaved her to the door. He kicked it open and simply threw her out. The door started to swing calmly shut as he ran back toward Kato. Two men aimed weapons at him. He punched the first and shoved the other back. He was launched into two other people. They all went down in a heap.

He grabbed Kato under the arms. He was groggily looking for balance as Britt guided him toward the door. They barrelled out of it but Kato stumbled and landed on his side in the cool night air with a pained ‘ _oof!_ ’.

Amy was getting to her hands and knees. Britt turned and grabbed her arm. “Get up!” he cried.

“Let me go!” she heaved, pulling herself free.

“Run! Now!” he shouted. “Get to safety!”

“The car,” Kato groaned.

Britt bent and helped him up. “You ok, dude?”

“Yes,” he said irritably. He put a glove up, checking his mask and hat were still on and mostly straight. “We have to—”

“Yeah dude - yeah we do, you’re right,” Britt said, drowning him out as he helped him away from the door. “Car, right?”

He turned as he heard voices from behind the door. He pushed Kato to lean against the wall and then grabbed up a strip of wood by their feet. He braced it into the door, kicking at the base to try to shove it deeper into the dirt. Something very large pounded on the inside of the door.

“Come on!” he cried in fear, grabbing Kato’s arm and putting it over his neck. He looked up just as a flash went off in his face. “Goddamn it!”

“Ha! Epic close up shot!” Amy cried.

Britt drew himself up in anger. She stepped back, uncertain.

“Run. Right now!” he warned.

She squeaked in fear and took off. He could only watch as she ran for her life down the dark street.

Hammering started on the door behind him. He cursed and hefted Kato up in his grip, and between them they hobbled as fast as they could manage across the streets, back toward the Black Beauty.


	15. Chapter 15

Amy scrambled over the fence and landed in a heap in the grass on the other side. She cried out in pain but then just panted in desperate air. She listened, swallowing to try to lubricate a painfully dry throat.

Nothing moved. She counted to sixty.

Listening to her heart, trying to quash the raging fear that someone who very seriously wanted to kill her might have followed her, she squeezed her eyes shut and waited another sixty seconds.

_Then_ she rolled to her side and pulled out her phone. A quick scroll and she was tapping at a name, holding the phone to her ear. “Sean? It’s me,” she said shakily. “Yeah - did you get the footage?” She paused to listen. “Oh thank god. I think I just had like three heart attacks but if it’s all there then it was worth it.”

She nodded as Sean on the other end spoke at length. Finally she rolled onto her back, looking up at the night sky.

“Well if you can get a good shot of their faces then I hope it ends up on the front page,” she gabbled. “Yeah they were in masks but… there must be something that distinguishes them, right? Well… we can hope.” She felt the all-over fear morphing into relief and exhaustion. “Ok. I’m going home. Look after all the footage. Let Mr Axford know the team can edit or play with it - whatever he wants.” She nodded to herself. “Will do.” She tapped the red button to end the call, then let her phone fall to her chest. “What a night.”

Then she got up carefully, looked back over the fence, and skulked across the private lawn, hoping to make it over the next fence without setting off any security lights.

ooOoo

Kato undid the hidden fasteners on his coat slowly, groaning in a mixture of pain and fatigue as he sagged back into the couch. Safely ensconced in Britt’s man-cave of miscellaneous minutiae, he finally let himself relax.

Britt appeared round the corner carrying a red box. “Just keep still a minute,” he urged, juggling that and a towel down onto the arm of the sofa furthest from the man in pain. He landed in the seat next to him, taking off Kato’s hat and dropping it to his lap.

“I can do it,” Kato grumped. He took his gloves off and then put his hand to his mask - and hissed and stopped.

“You ok?” Britt asked.

“It’s stuck.” He pulled carefully and Britt watched in horror as semi-dried, semi-gooey blood tried very hard not to give up the arm of the mask from his skin.

“That’s gross,” he winced.

“Worse than a bullet wound?” Kato tutted. He pulled the mask free and let it drop into his hat. “How bad is it?”

“There’s blood everywhere,” Britt sighed. “I’ll try to clean it so I can see what we’re dealing with here.” He opened up the box but Kato was pulling his coat off, lying it out on his arm of the couch. Britt found a large sterile cloth in a packet and opened it up, popping the lid off a bottle and slapping the cloth over the top to swish it upside down. “So what was your girlfriend doing there?”

“I don’t know,” Kato said irritably. “She said she did fact-checking for journalists, not actual spying on people.”

“Yeah well, she might be lying to pretend she doesn’t have a secret life. I don’t think you can trust her - I mean who does that?”

Kato turned his head deliberately and stared at him.

“What?” Britt asked in all innocence.

Kato’s eyes narrowed as his lips pursed so hard small dimples of anger appeared. He _stared_.

“Well - I mean - apart from superheroes like us, man,” Britt grinned. He swept all of Kato’s hair back and pressed the cloth into the top of the dried blood pattern, not stopping when the recipient of his care hissed. It started to melt and come away on the cloth, and he repeated the somewhat rough sponging until it was all gone. “Yeah - that’s pretty bad. She got you good, dude.”

“She is good at swinging a bowling ball,” he muttered rather ruefully.

Britt grinned. “Really? You went bowling? Did you win?”

“No.”

“Well she’s got an arm on her, I’ll give you that,” he said, going back to the box and finding small Steri-strips. “Let me stick you back together before you move.”

“Do your best.”

He grinned and was very, _very_ careful how he used two Steri-strips to grip the skin and keep the not insignificant gash in Kato’s temple together.

He picked up a small tube but Kato took it off him. “Not that.”

“Dude it’s like superglue for skin - it’ll seal it,” Britt argued, whisking it back off him.

“You put it on before the strips, idiot,” Kato tutted. “If you put it on now you will superglue the strips to my head.”

Britt suppressed a laugh. “No yeah - sorry. You’re right. I am a dumbass.”

“Not all the time.”

“But hey - we got away. And like, Amy got away too, right?”

“I can’t believe you left her there.”

“Bro, she left _me!_ ” Britt protested. “I told her to run and she took off like Usain Bolt. You didn’t tell me she was a runner.”

“I didn’t know,” he sighed. “Like I don’t know a lot of things about her, it seems.”

Britt peered at the cut, found it starting to ooze a slight amount of blood, and went back to the box. He cracked open a sterile packet with a small pad in it and pressed it over the strips. “Hold that there.”

Kato held it in place as Britt found some tape, using it to secure the pad to his temple.

He sat back, all done, and then picked everything up and dumped it back in the box, snapping the lid shut.

Kato watched his hands on the box. “Thank you.”

“For cleaning you up? Hey - that was easy. I don’t do bullet wounds but little cuts like that? No sweat.”

“No, I mean… for what you said. To Sapphire.”

Britt’s face went slack and his eyes went across the room, wandering around blindly. No matter how much he hoped, they did not stumble into anything remotely resembling an idea. “What did I say?”

Kato rolled his eyes. “You said I was not the sidekick, that I was a partner.”

“Oh! Yeah - that. Totally, dude,” he shrugged. He paused, looking uncomfortable. “You know…”

“What?”

“It’s a pain in the ass having to hide things from Amy and lie about where you’ve been, but…”

“What?” Kato asked quietly, not looking at him.

“But… She seems pretty cool, man. I mean she got you with a rock. And she was like out of her head scared but she still mouthed off at the bad guys, right?” He slapped a hand on Kato’s shoulder and then used it to push himself up. “I’m just saying… she’s got balls, man. Like solid rock.” He picked up the box, turning to go.

“You think so?” Kato asked.

Britt smiled as he turned. “Yeah, man, I do. You got a good one there.” He looked at his feet.

Kato sniffed. He felt at the dressing in his head before letting his hand drop. “So… you want to go to the bar now?”

“Seriously?” Britt grinned. “Like now?”

Kato shrugged.

Britt thought for a second. “Uh… I don’t think that would be a good idea. …But we got beers here. You want one?”

“I think I do.”

“Let me get a load - don’t move,” he said excitedly, careening off round the door to the room.

Kato smiled to himself, settling back in the couch. He lifted his boot onto the coffee table to stretch out, crossing the ankle with the other one. He hissed and felt down his right side - and when he brought his hand back it was damp. He sighed, shaking his head, as his hand went back down and he pressed at the pad over the stitches in his side.

Britt re-appeared, three bottles of beer in each hand. “Right, first you can tell me all about that time you were a kid and you and some friends stole a car. That sounds dope.” He set the bottles down, already twisting off a cap and leaning to hand it to him.

“Ok but… get the box,” Kato managed, nodding to the first aid kit.

“What for?” Britt asked. He picked it up anyway, sitting himself down close enough to reach Kato’s head again.

Kato lifted his hand from his side, displaying the red smudge on his fingers.

“Whoops,” Britt allowed. “Ok - I’ll clean, you talk.”

“ _I’ll_ clean.”

“Ok but you still talk.”

“Fine.” Kato paused. “And then we tell Lenore what happened. She will know what to do.”

“Yeah. —After you tell me about the car you stole.”

ooOoo

The shout outside Lenore’s front door made her smile. “I still can’t understand why I get a paper every morning when I actually _work_ for the place and could just read the app.” She turned off the gas to the stove, lifting the frying pan and sliding her scrambled eggs onto her toast. Whisking up a knife and fork, she carried the plate to her kitchen table and set it down next to her coffee. Then she went to the front door and opened it up, breathing in the cool yet fresh morning air. She went across the small lawn, enjoying the warm morning sun, and picked up her newspaper delivery, carrying it back inside and letting the good vibes of the morning get her ready for the front page, her breakfast, and maybe a crossword before she had to fire up her work laptop for the day.

She cut up her toast first, the scrambled egg atop just kind of going with it until she speared a piece and had it in her mouth. She smiled in relaxation and enjoyment, sipping at her coffee and picking up the paper. She unfolded it to get a look at the front page.

And nearly choked.

She coughed down the sharp toast and poor misunderstood egg as she stared wide-eyed at the headline.

‘ _GREEN HORNET IN DRUGS CARTEL MEET_ ’

Two full-size pictures underneath made her mouth lose its mooring and simply hang limply. Very sharp but also quite dark, they quite clearly showed a woman and a man in some kind of room, facing the Green Hornet and a masked man. They did not seem to be at war, and yet something about their stances did not seem entirely copacetic. Immediately she lifted the paper closer to her nose, peering intently at the two masked men, turning the paper this way and that to try to glean any clues from the images.

Then she shook her head and instead read the article below. “… Meeting at a secret location… talk of a gang war…” She sat back and swore. At length.

Then she got up and found her phone.

ooOoo

Doug picked up his coffee mug and then swept up Sean’s. “You want one?”

“Why not,” Sean muttered, still typing away at something.

Doug walked off, going down the stairs one floor to get to the break room. He walked in and found someone peering intently at the instructions on the coffee machine. He walked over with a grin. “So you can capture the most awesome footage of Sapphire the drugs kingpin and the Green Hornet ever filmed, and yet you can’t make a simple coffee?”

Amy jumped in surprise, then turned and looked up at him. “Oh - morning,” she said. “No, I still can’t figure this thing out. It’s like…. I understand all the words it uses, but I don’t understand the way they put them together in a sentence.”

“Here - let me.” He stepped up to the machine and she gave him room, folding her arms and watching as he began to pull on settings and open trays. “How many people have asked for your autograph this morning?” he grinned.

“Me?”

“You’ve seen the front page, right? And it’s all over our app - even some of the video. You prepped it, right?”

“I just got the footage - the media department did all the magic,” she said.

“Well it’s seriously awesome. This is the big thing that all the other papers are going to _wish_ they had been in on.” He set her cup underneath a spout, setting the machine to run.

“I know, right?” she grinned. “Take that, Tribune. I’d like to see _that_ editor’s face this morning.”

“So what have you got planned for tonight?”

“Tonight?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well is your man taking you out to celebrate or what?” He pulled a few switches and milk started to froth into her cup.

“My man?”

“You know - the EA from the top floor,” he winked. She frowned. “Oh come on, Amy - everyone knows. Everyone’s talking about you two.”

“Well I wish they wouldn’t,” she said quietly.

He turned, handing her the coffee. “Not like being mean, but… It’s like they’re all cheering you on, right? Like you’re their favourite team - Steve called you ‘OTP’, whatever that means,” he teased. “And look, the dude seems nice. And he’s _hot_. Honestly, if you don’t want him, I’ll have him.”

She blushed, smiling as she smelt the rim of her mug. “Well you can tell everyone I don’t like being the topic of everyone’s gossip,” she said. “But… yes, he _is_ nice.”

Doug chuckled, turning back to the machine and resetting it for his own recipe. “So where’s he taking you?”

“You’re so old-fashioned,” she smiled. “Maybe _I’m_ taking _him_ somewhere.”

“Well where?”

“I haven’t decided yet. But… definitely somewhere calm, where nothing can surprise me or scare me out of my wits again. I nearly died of fright about six times last night getting that footage.”

He chuckled again, shaking his head. “Well everyone’s very proud. You definitely deserve a good night out.”

“Thank you,” she said airily, then just giggled and walked to the door. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“Oh, my pleasure, believe me,” he said with a wave.

She walked out, noticing people stopping to look up at her as she went up the stairs, finding her floor.

She was sat down a whole two minutes before she turned her chair deliberately, eyeing everyone who had stopped to watch her. “What?” she managed quietly.

Someone clapped. And then someone else did. Pretty soon the entire floor was on their feet, giving her a standing ovation.

She went bright red and waved her hands. “Stop! Please!” she called, and the noise died down. “Thank all the editing staff and the video woman - I didn’t do any of the post-video work or the uploading or write any articles.”

“No but without your footage as evidence there would be no story,” said a voice, and she looked round. Mike Axford walked over to her, putting his hand out. “Well done, Amy. Very well done. A shame you didn’t get that other thing we were after, but still - excellent work.”

She shook it lamely, nodding. “Thanks, Mr Axford.”

He let go, patted the side of her shoulder, and walked away.

Amy swallowed and looked around. “Ok - all of you stop staring at me! Do some work!”

People chuckled and turned away, everyone going back to their seats. She felt her face, willing it to cool and turn back to its normal colour. And then she put a hand into her bag, retrieving her phone. She checked the screen but found no messages waiting for her.

She grinned and tapped out a message, pressing Send. She barely had time to put it down before a reply came back. She opened it up.

‘ _I saw your work on the front page this morning. Awesome work, sis_ ’

She put the phone down and went back to her large files of names, addresses, histories and careers that needed fact-checking.

With a smile on her face.

ooOoo

The phone rang. And rang. And _rang_.

Britt blindly put his hand out and made a grab for it. His fingers collided with the corner and sent it spinning across some surface to stop just out of reach. “What the…” He opened bleary eyes, trying to work out where he was and why.

He realised he was lying on his back, one foot up on the couch next to him, the other flat out on the carpet. He appeared to have a tie knotted round his forehead and his left hand round an empty glass. A cushion was lying on his chest; shoving this to one side he managed to find the shrill noisemaker just beyond his right hand. He grunted and strained then made a desperate lunge for it. He snatched it up and jabbed at the screen, panicking he would miss the call.

“Hellooo?” he called at the bottom of the smartphone.

“Britt? Have you seen the news?”

“Lenore? Is that you? Morning, sunshine,” he beamed, relaxing into the carpet on his back. “What’s shakin’, dude?”

“Are you _drunk?_ ” she demanded.

“Uh… not _entirely_ ,” he said, but he did sound somewhat unsure. “You woke me up is all. What is it?”

“The news,” she snapped. “Turn it on. Right now.”

“Ok - gimme like…” He turned and crawled across the carpet as if his legs no longer worked. He made it to the coffee table in the middle of the room, grabbing up the remote and pointing it lamely at the television.

It blinked into life and he changed the channel a few times until he saw a news logo in the corner.

“Ok, I got it,” he said. “Now what?”

“Keep watching. Recognise anyone?”

He frowned, trying to keep the screen in focus when it was so high up. An anchorman was talking about something, a ticker-tape of up-to-the-minute breaking news going across the bottom of the screen. Suddenly the man stopped talking and a full-screen image of something terribly familiar was plastered wide.

“Holy shit,” he whispered. “That’s me! Look at that - that’s me! And I’m moving! Dude!”

“Yeah - the entire west coast can see you,” she snapped. “You’re lucky no-one’s been able to ID you from that.”

“And there’s Kato - look! Whoa - is that when the ceiling came down and—. Oh shit - look at that!” he grinned, pushing himself up to sit properly. “That’s when the guys went for us - holy—. Look at Kato go! He’s just like windmilling those dudes—”

“Yeah, I saw - about seven times this morning. This is _Sentinel_ footage, Britt. How did they get this?”

“Oh you won’t believe this,” he gushed. “So we get to the meet, right? We’re all ready to take ‘em down or get them arrested, ok? And then Sapphire says—.” He paused. “Didn’t we email you this last night?”

“I have _one_ email from you, at roughly three-thirty a.m.,” she said archly. “It just says ‘ _epic night. We were the shit, lots to tell you in the morning_ ’.” She huffed. “Start talking.”

“Oh… well… yeah, so Sapphire says she has an in on the police department, and when the cops were tipped off her guy on the inside changed the destination. They were never coming to _our_ meeting.” He shook his head. “Then things went bad. You know Amy, Kato’s girlfriend? She just like fell out of the ceiling and told everyone she’d been videoing the whole damn thing.”

“ _What_?”

“I know, right? I mean we thought she was a fact-checker for journos, not some kind of war correspondent with fearsome wifi skills!”

Lenore sighed, long and hard, down the phone. “Ok. Let me… Ok.” She paused. “Have you seen Kato?”

“Uh… we had a few drinks last night, and you woke me up, so…” He squinted around the room. “Man I hope he didn’t try to ride his bike back.”

“Find him, Britt. Make sure he’s ok. He’s still got stitches.”

“Oh that’s the best bit - we tried to rescue Amy last night and she full-on swung for him - with a lump of rock! She got him right in the head - poor dude couldn’t walk straight till we got back to the car!”

“Britt?” she asked calmly.

“Yeah?”

“ _Find him!_ ”

The line cut abruptly.

Britt blinked at it. Then he tossed it to the couch. He levered himself up to his hands and knees with an Herculean effort, before climbing onto the sofa and sagging into it. He looked around carefully, looking for any sign of his partner. Other than a discarded coat, hat and gloves, there was nothing.

He groaned and pushed himself to his feet. Rubbing a head that was starting to throb, he put a hand to the back of the couch to help him navigate it, stumbling back and around the room.

“Dude!” he called, as loud as his aching head would allow. “You here or what? Gimme a sign you’re not dead!”

“停止喊叫,” came a grumble from somewhere behind him.

He turned and plodded toward the other side of the room as if wading against a strong current. “In English, bro!”

“Stop shouting,” was the reply.

Britt turned and stumbled back, realising the foosball table wasn’t actually a foosball table. He pointed and laughed.

Kato was flat on his back, looking like he’d fallen from a great height. The backs of his knees were draped over the bottom two corners of the table, his arms flopped either side of the top ones, his head propped on the edge by the goal area. If the table had collapsed at one end he would have been sat in a wheelbarrow of knobbly players.

“Dude that has to be the most uncomfortable place in like the world!” Britt laughed.

“It hurts,” Kato chuckled, his eyes trying to open. “But it will hurt more to move.”

“Come on - I’ll help you,” he said, putting his hand to his shoulder.

He pulled his arm free. “No - I can do it.”

Britt stood back, his palms up in surrender. “If you say so, dude.” He watched as Kato unwedged himself from the many poles and players under his back and beyond, gripping the edges of the table to slide himself over the side. “I still say you could use the help,” Britt added as he took another step back.

Kato sniffed and straightened up, lifting his chin to tilt it at Britt haughtily. “I don’t need help.”

Then he belched, grinned with achievement, and slipped sideways toward the floor.

Britt reached out and grabbed his arm. “Sure you don’t, buddy. Come on, over here where it’s soft. I had no idea you can’t take your drink.”

“Me?” he scoffed with a smile. “You were ‘no more vodka on top of beer’ and I said you were a lightweight so you added more to _mine_ \- I drink more than you!” Kato grinned, pushing him clear and aiming for the couch. He fell into it.

“Yeah you know what, I think you did,” Britt allowed with a smile. “And hey, I have an unfair alcohol-to-weight ratio, so…”

“Why you wake me up?” Kato groaned, rubbing his hands in his eyes.

“Lenore called - we’re on the news,” he grinned. “Look!”

Kato parted his hands and peered at the TV. “That’s us? That’s us!” he gasped.

“Yeah man - and here’s the best bit - look! It’s you! Going all Donnie Yen on that guy behind you! _Man_ that is so cool!” he gushed.

Kato watched, his eyes narrowed. Then he turned his head and looked at him. “Wait… everyone can see this?”

“Everyone. Your girlfriend must have given it to Mike at the paper. Lenore says it’s all over every channel. We’re the biggest thing on the west coast!”

He nodded, thinking hard, it seemed. “So… everyone has this video now? It’s on all the channels?”

“If it isn’t now it will be in like a few hours,” Britt shrugged. He came over to the couch and bounced down into the opposite end. “I got to check on the DA. And then I’m going to bed.”

“I will drive home.”

“You sure?”

“I’m ok.”

“Are you sure you’re ok to drive?” he asked critically. “I mean the last thing we need is some cop to pull you over for drink driving and you going through the police record database with fingerprints. What if they manage to lift something from a scene somewhere and match it to you?”

“See these?” Kato asked innocently, lifting his right hand and splaying his fingers.

“Yeah…?”

“And see these?” he asked, reaching out for the gloves in the hat on the table, flapping one in Britt’s face. “How will they get fingerprints from a crime scene when I wear these?”

“Yeah but…” He shrugged. “I just think you’re still too drunk to drive.”

He thought for a moment. “You may be right.”

“I _know_ I’m right,” Britt said. “This is the most I’ve seen you happy in like… ever.”

Kato sat back, shaking his head. “I find that spare room I had last time - sleep in there.”

“It’s still there, any time you want it.” He got up. “I’ll tell Mike we’re working on something so we won’t be in. I don’t think he’ll even notice, not with them riding high with all that footage, but hey. Gotta have a cover story.” He patted his shoulder, then walked off.

He was almost out of the room before Kato turned his head. “Britt?”

“Yep?” He turned to look back at him.

“Last night was fun.”

“Yes it was,” he grinned. Then he twirled around and disappeared.

Kato got up, switched off the TV, and then went deeper into the house, looking for his spare room.


	16. Chapter 16

The phone buzzed. Sapphire eyed it warily, finding the name and letting her head drop to her desk. “Here we go.” She reached out, and without even lifting her head, answered the call. “Yes.”

“Not only have you not killed the Green Hornet yet, you’ve also got yourself on national television.”

“Yes boss. But—”

“No buts, Sapphire - you know that. If he’s not dead in three days then I’m afraid you’ll be going somewhere a lot further south than San Fransisco.”

“I understand.”

The line clicked.

Sapphire sighed and dropped the phone to her lap, under the table. Then she drew in a very deep breath, and at the top of her lungs, shouted: “ _Charlie!_ ”

A moment later she heard feet and then the door to her office opened. “What is it, boss?”

She didn’t bother sitting up, feeling at that moment that the only thing in the world apart from Charlie that she could actually believe in was the wood preventing her head from finding what she really wanted, which was a hole in the ground that could swallow her up. “We’re screwed. The Green Hornet in three days. That’s it.”

Charlie didn’t answer.

She pushed herself up, but realised he had already bolted from the doorway, no doubt on his way to order a hit through every contact in every language he knew. “Well they do say necessity is a great motivator,” she sighed.

ooOoo

The room waited, the eyes of every journalist and member of the front-page crew studying articles, silent replays of footage, and social media impressions of stories.

Mike sat at the head of the table, his elbows planted in the surface, his fingers steepled.

Suddenly a knock made them all look over. “Come in!” Mike called.

The door swung open and Amy looked in. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Amy - yes,” he smiled. “I think you know everyone here, right?”

She looked around as she closed the door behind her. “I think I do groundwork for… most people here.”

“Have a seat,” Mike said. She found an empty chair and sat carefully, feeling apprehension and anxiety try to turn her face red. “First of all,” he said, “a big well done for getting that footage. Honestly - Steve here says it’s been off the charts this morning. Steve?” he asked.

The man opposite her grinned, lifting an iPad as if people had any idea what the metrics on it meant. “The reactions to the article, to the footage, to the stills we’ve published in print and on the app? _Meteoric_ ,” he beamed. “This is _the_ scoop, Amy - everyone is clamouring for copies of your footage so they can print their own.”

“Oh, uh… good?” she hazarded.

“It’s _very_ good,” Mike said. “We understand from the footage that you got in some words with the mysterious drugs people - you were off camera but we could hear some of what happened. This woman… Sapphire, was it?” he asked the table.

Heads nodded. “We have info,” a woman down the end said. “The way she was talking about her past in San Fransisco - we’ve got her. She did work under Chudnofsky like she said, then when the Green Hornet took him out when he totalled the top floors of this building, she consolidated whoever was left. Even Charlie, the man the Green Hornet mentioned - we think he’s Charles Peterson, someone who this ‘Sapphire’ - real name Sarah Fellows - has bailed out a few times for petty crimes.”

“You came to us from San Fransisco, didn’t you?” Mike asked Amy. “Do you know anything about her?”

“I did filing,” she said quietly. “Junior stuff. I’d never even heard of her until last night.”

“Ok,” Mike allowed. “Everyone - you can all go. Start on your articles, your case-building - we want supply chains, lieutenants, collaborators, dock surveillance, the usual. We have a lot to make of this and I don’t want _anything_ left out.”

People got up and headed for the door. Amy waited until there was room to move, then pushed her chair out to get up.

“Wait, Amy,” Mike said. She paused, and eventually everyone else had left. “Close the door, please,” he said. Going over and shutting it softly, she went back to the table and sat. He laced his fingers on the open dossier in front of him. “This is to remain between you and me, ok?”

“Ok,” she said warily.

“We have a mole here in the newspaper. Someone has been reproducing unpublished articles and evidence, and sharing it with people who shouldn’t have it.” He paused. “Would you know anything about that?”

“What?” she gasped, her eyes wide. “Why would they do that?”

“In the past it’s been for money,” he said. He lowered his voice. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me, when it’s just you and me?”

“Like what?” she asked, confused.

“Have you ever…” He paused. “I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but the fact is… I _do_ have to ask you.” He looked her in the eye. “Amy De Souza - have you ever shared anything produced or belonging to this newspaper or its media branches that you knew you shouldn’t?”

“Me?” she gulped. “No - no, never.”

“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said, looking relieved. “It’s not personal. We’re asking everyone.”

“Oh, well…” She blinked, then stared at the table. “I mean…” She looked up again. “I appreciate you asking first.”

“First?”

“Well…” She cleared her throat. “So… can I go?”

“This isn’t a formal hearing,” he said with a gentle smile. “I just have one more question for you.”

“Ok.”

“This Sapphire… Did she ever mention who her police informant was? She gives us clues in the footage but we can’t trace anyone like that at the moment. If we could get a name, get some evidence that he’s on the take, we could run an exposé on that too.”

She sat back. “You know… last night I think I’m lucky I didn’t drop dead of a heart attack. I don’t think I’m cut out for field work,” she added quietly. “I don’t remember a single thing that happened. When I saw the footage we got this morning… half of it was a surprise to me. I mean… I did that?”

“You did,” he smiled. “You even struck the Green Hornet’s masked accomplice in the head - quite hard, judging by the way he went over.”

“I have like half a memory of any of that,” she said. “It was just so fast - I panicked, I think. I just lashed out and—.” She shook her head. “I remember the brick or rubble or whatever it was hitting him in the head and I heard him cry out - that was it. The next thing I know…” She gasped. “Wait! I got a close-up!”

“What?” he asked, sitting up with caution.

“Well… we were outside. The Green Hornet was helping the other guy to walk - he seemed a bit dazed. And I thought - well I used my phone, got a really good close-up of the pair of them.”

“Have you given the photo to the media department?”

“Not yet - I totally forgot I had it!” she said excitedly.

“Then when you can, find it and send it over,” he said with a smile. “Maybe then we can ID them and run a story on _that_ , finally.”

“Yes sir, Mr Axford,” she said, getting to her feet.

“Well done, Amy. The next time you and Sean decide to cook up some surveillance like this, just bring it straight to me and I’ll give you the yes or no on the spot.”

“Thank you, Mr Axford.”

“It’s Mike,” he said, waving her off.

She grinned and went out of the door, trying to keep her excitement levels under control as she went down a few floors and found her desk. She sank into her chair, grinning madly.

“That sounded important,” a voice said from the partition. She looked up and found Sean’s face over the top edge, watching her.

“Oh get this - Mr Axford says the next time we want to do something like last night, we just go direct to him and he’ll give us the ok or the no straight away,” she grinned.

“Well alright, partner,” he grinned, offering her his palm. She slapped it with hers and they grinned.

“And I think I have a fantastic photo of—.” She paused, looking round her desk. “Where’s my phone?”

“Under all that paper, probably,” he said. “You have fun. I’m going back to the team to see what else they can get from the footage.”

She picked up her desk phone, pressing the button at the bottom of the pre-programmed list and biting her lip. It rang and rang.

Eventually the line clicked. “Media handling.”

“Hi,” she said with a grin. “I have a photo on my phone - Mike Axford wants me to bring it to you for processing ASAP.”

“Uh… hold on…” A pause. “Best we can do is… after six - we’re stacked out.”

“But… it’s really important.”

“And so is everything else we handle. Look, I’m sorry, but we got a few guys off sick over here and we’re processing images and footage as fast as we can, ok? We have dead sex workers implicating police officers, suspicious deaths involving catarrh, suspected mobsters face-down in fountains. We really are doing our best.”

“Oh no no - sorry. That’s fine. I’ll drop it by after six.”

“Appreciated. Name please?”

“Amy De Souza.”

“Amy De… Oh - our footage woman! Cool. Yeah, bring it by after six, please.”

“Thanks. Sorry - thanks.” She put the phone down, shaking her head.

Rummaging around the Post-It notes and newspaper clippings covering her keyboard, she swept aside the celebration ribbons and congratulations cartoons people had seen fit to deposit on her work surface. A buzzing made her turn to her right and find a wad of paper vibrating to its own beat on top of her printer. She unearthed the phone, finding it was a text message. She unlocked it and the notification made her smile.

‘ _Kato_

_1 message’_

She squeezed the phone and grinned in excitement. _Wait till I tell him what I did last night!_

She opened the message. Her smile died.

‘ _Cannot tonight. Meet tomorrow?_ ’

She sighed, letting her hand and phone drop to the desk. Tilting her head back, thinking it over, she allowed her excitement to drain away as the reality of it being only Tuesday made itself evident. Looking around, she took in the normal hubbub of the office, the to-ing and fro-ing of everyone working on _their_ scoops, on their little lightning in a bottle stories. Her shoulders sagged as the rest of her deflated with all of her soul.

She looked back at the phone and typed a reply with her thumb.

‘ _Ok. Nothing exciting happening here anyway._ ’ She pressed Send and sat back.

Sean’s head popped back over the partition. “Hey.”

“What?” she asked, looking up quickly, instantly turning the phone screen down to the desk.

“Don’t forget you’re invited to watch the ice hockey on Friday at the sports bar,” he said. “And… if you’re going… can you do me a favour?”

“What’s that?”

“Can you see if Linda is going?”

“Oh Sean - I think she’s seeing that new guy - what’s his name - John.”

“Oh. Really?” he asked, his face falling. “She’s getting around.”

“Maybe she’s realising one by one that all the available fellas here aren’t worth dating,” she said with a shit-eating grin.

He snorted in amusement. “Yeah, maybe.” He paused, thinking for a long moment before he shook his head. “Ok… have a good afternoon anyway - what’s left of it.” He tapped the top of the partition and was gone again.

She turned the phone screen back up and looked at it, then shook her head and set it down on the desk. Picking up all the sheets of paper, she started to organise them into useful and trash piles.

The phone buzzed. She paused, then picked it up and unlocked it.

‘ _Kato_

_1 message_ ’

She tapped to see it.

‘ _Coffee @ 4 by machine? Only time today. Bowling tomorrow night Y/N?_ ’

She typed quickly. ‘ _Y & Y_.’ She pressed Send.

Then she looked at her watch, saw it was going up to three o’clock, and decided to finally tidy her desk - just so she could find the laptop.

A head appeared over the top of the partition and she sighed. “Not now, Sean.”

“Have I caught you a bad time?”

She looked up and instead found a woman, perhaps ten years older than herself, watching her with a smile. “Oh! Sorry - thought you were someone else.”

“No problem,” she smiled. “I have something upstairs - can you take a look at it for me? I meant to bring it down but picked up my coffee cup and forgot the print-out.”

“Yeah, sure Linda - hang on.” She got up and made sure nothing confidential was floating around exposed on the desk. She snagged her coffee mug as she waved an arm out. “Where to?”

“Upstairs - I’m sure you’re no stranger to the top floor,” she said. She turned away and started to walk toward the stairs, and Amy followed.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh we’re playing _that_ game, are we?” Linda grinned. “Everyone’s impressed. I mean by all accounts you met the guy in the elevator one morning, and the next thing we all know you’re dating him. High-five, and all that - from what people say he’s pretty cool.”

“Oh,” Amy managed, curling hair round her ear. They climbed the stairs to the top floor, Linda leading the way over to her desk.

“Hey Steve,” Linda announced.

A pod of three people looked up, waving and then waving again to Amy. “So you want something fact-checked?” Amy asked.

They all looked down again, but Linda fished a piece of paper from her keyboard and handed it to her. “Yep. Is there any way you could get this to me by four today?”

Amy read it slowly. “Hmm... Didn’t we do this already? Like… a few weeks ago? Never went out, I don’t think. Not sure if it was behind a few security firewalls.”

“No idea,” Linda said. “If it’s already done then just send me the intranet link and I’ll cut and paste what I need from the stuff we already have. No sense you doing it again.”

“Sure,” Amy said.

“And say hello to your man for us,” Linda winked.

“Like they live in each other’s pockets,” Steve scoffed. “Leave her alone, Linda. He’s not even in today, apparently.”

ooOoo

Lenore gripped the handle of her bag firmly as the elevator whooshed upwards. “Britt - remember you’re here to speak to Mike about this footage - be enthusiastic—”

“He is always enthusiastic,” Kato said from behind her.

Britt, next to him, grinned and put his fist up. Kato bumped it without looking.

“—Well yes, but it’s all about how amazing this footage is,” Lenore went on, “and can you have access to see it for yourself on your laptop - _that’s_ the important part. Kato? Get what you need from Britt’s office and remember you’re on sick leave. You’re not here to work, so if anyone asks what you’re doing here just say you’re picking up a work laptop.”

“Right,” he nodded.

She turned to him, slipping her bag down her arm to sit at her elbow so she could adjust the shoulders on his t-shirt. She lifted the front of his beanie hat a tiny way and slid her hand under to his hair, teasing it more toward his eyes, making it lie more closely over his temple - and cover the white pad over the stitches. “Do not let anyone see that patch on your head, got it?”

“I know,” he protested, putting a hand to his hat to keep it still. “It will be ok.”

“Ok - right - ok - I know that,” she said hastily, turning to look back at the elevator doors. She straightened up and took a deep breath.

Britt and Kato exchanged a withering glance.

The lift stopped. The doors opened.

Lenore walked out as if she owned the floor, but then had to stop dead as mail cart passed her.

“Sorry,” the young lad said, trying to get the cart out of her way.

“No problem,” she smiled. “Anything in there for Lenore Case? Britt Reid?”

“Uh…” He bent over the cart, checking the names on the tags. “No, sorry.”

“Thanks.”

The three of them made for Britt’s office at the end, Kato checking his watch. As Britt stopped to unlock the door, a voice called out over the general hubbub.

“Parcel here!” the mail worker called over the open plan office behind them. Heads went up; ears opened. “Lee Ker Der?” he called. “Parcel for a Lee Ker Der?”

Heads turned and people frowned at each other. The party at the door turned to see - Kato took a step away from them.

Amy’s head had already snapped up. She turned from Linda’s pod, surprised faces watching her. “I’ll take it!” she called, waving a hand. The mail lad walked over and handed it to her, then produced a PDA for her to scribble on. She did so, and the man nodded his thanks and rolled the cart away.

“Wait,” Kato said, not looking at Britt before he made a beeline for Amy.

“Poor boy,” Britt grinned at Lenore. “He’s worried she’s getting cool presents off a secret admirer.”

Kato stopped by Linda’s pod and Amy turned to see him. A big grin covered her face and she grabbed his elbow, walking him to the windows away from the pod. She chatted away and offered him the box. Lenore folded her arms as they appeared to talk quite happily while he opened it up. He nodded as he listened to her, pulling something from it - Amy took the empty box off him. He inspected a small black item, turning it over a few times, before he held it up between them, explaining something as he pointed to each end.

Amy grinned, said something that made his face go a little red, and then straightened his beanie hat for him.

“Jeez,” Britt sighed. “Get a room already.”

Lenore hid a grin. They both watched as Kato handed her the item, his hands going rather self-consciously into the rear pockets of his black jeans. She raised it in one hand, nodding and saying something. He gave her a little wave, then turned and found half the open plan office watching him. He nodded, not making eye contact, and walked back to the door to find Britt and Lenore just waiting.

Britt looked at him - just looked.

“What?” Kato asked innocently.

Britt opened the door and bundled him in, Lenore following to close it quietly behind her. She smiled. “Secret gift for Amy?”

“It’s a wifi dongle for her home laptop,” he said innocently. “Makes it go from a b/g/n rating to an a/n/ac rating.”

“A what?” Britt asked, confused.

“It makes the internet faster,” Lenore said.

“So what’s with the secret name?” Britt asked.

Kato frowned. “What secret name?”

“The secret name the mail dude was shouting over the office.”

“That’s not a secret name, that’s _my_ name,” Kato said, surprised.

“Your name’s Lee Ker Der?” Lenore asked, surprised. “I thought it was Kato.”

He rolled his eyes. “Actually it is Lee Kie-De,” he said, each syllable short. “But no-one in America can say it so they say Kay-Do and think it sounds like Kato. And now it’s stuck like that.”

Lenore ‘oh’ed. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok,” he shrugged.

“Wow that must _suck_ ,” Britt heaved. “I had to go like three days at a seminar thing and everyone was calling me Brad - drove me nuts.” He sat down at the laptop as Kato glanced at his watch, then went round him to the collection of coffee cups sitting on the refrigerator in the corner. “Wait a _minute_ ,” Britt said suddenly, offended. “How come Amy knows your real name but we don’t? We’ve known you longer than her, dude.”

Kato blinked at him. “When I was home all weekend because I had stitches she came over to check on me, and Sunday afternoon she picked up my dry cleaning. She took my driver’s licence for ID.” He paused. “She is smart like that.”

Lenore shrugged in agreement, nodding.

Britt folded his arms. “Not fair, dude,” he grumped. “ _We’ve_ known you longer - and I’ve known you longer than Lenore. I shoulda been told your real name first.”

“Like Britt is your real name,” Kato scoffed.

“What? It is.”

“No, what is the long name?” Kato asked.

“What long name?”

“Well… like Sam in HR - her name is Samantha. People always make their names short,” he said. “What is Britt short for?”

“It’s not,” he said, confused. “It’s just Britt.”

“Maybe it’s Britney and he’s too embarrassed to say,” Lenore teased, making Kato grin.

Britt huffed. “Whatever.”

“So you didn’t check my EA contract before you gave it to Sam to give to me?” Kato asked. “My name is on the top - even has the Chinese in brackets for legal stuff.”

“I didn’t _see_ it,” Britt huffed. “I have people for that.”

Kato and Lenore shared a glance. “Well,” Kato said, “I’m going to the break room.”

“Ok fine - _Mr Lee_ ,” Britt said. “Go enjoy your bagels, _Mr Lee_.”

Kato smiled and Lenore shook her head, picking up a chair to set it close to the other side of Britt’s desk. Kato straightened his beanie hat, opening the door and twirling out. Britt rolled his eyes and booted up the laptop.

ooOoo

Kato bounced down the stairs and paused on the floor for Support and Admin. Seeing Amy’s head was not at her pod, he turned and made for the break room.

“Hey - it’s the EA. What brings you down to our floor?” came a voice.

He twirled and found a man smiling at him, a pod of people behind him looking similarly interested. “Oh - ah - have to pick up a work laptop,” he said.

“We heard you were sick,” the man said.

“Doug,” someone hissed. It was a woman, who stood up. “Sorry - news travels fast. Are you feeling better?”

“Uh - yeah. It’s not sick, it’s—. Injury. Stitches,” he nodded.

“Sounds nasty,” Doug winced. “What _did_ you do?”

“Car fell on me,” he said off-hand. He waved and walked into the break room.

Doug turned, speechless. The woman smiled at him, patting his shoulder. “I heard he used to work on cars for Mr Reid,” she said. “He probably still tinkers.”

Doug sighed, looking toward the break room door. “I could tinker with him. Free of charge.”

She giggled. “Find another target, Doug.” She paused, seeing someone else make their way to the break room, a coffee mug in their hand. “You were too late.”

Doug turned and watched Amy enter the break room. “Yeah.”

Amy waved at them all in complete innocence before she rounded the doorjamb, finding Kato at the coffee machine. “Here we are again,” she grinned, walking over.

“You lied to me,” he said.

“What?” she managed, taken aback.

His turned and looked at her, particularly unimpressed. “You lied to me.”

“I - uh - what? When?” she gasped.

“You said nothing exciting was happening today,” he said, and now she could see him fighting a smile. “But everyone here is talking about your big scoop last night. So is it not exciting, or did you lie to me?”

“Sorry,” she said quietly, looking at her hands. “Just… When you said you couldn’t meet today I thought… Well. Never mind.”

“So you _did_ lie to me.”

She looked up quickly but now he definitely _was_ smiling. She pushed at his shoulder. “Shut up and make me coffee.”

He winced, putting a hand to his side. “I am injured and you’re being mean to me. You should make _me_ coffee.”

She giggled. “Do you hate yourself that much, that you want _me_ to make the coffee?” She moved to the machine anyway.

He waved her out of her way. “Ok ok - I take it back.”

She grinned, coming up behind him and popping her head over his shoulder to rest on him as he manipulated switches and settings. “As good as it is to see you today… you shouldn’t really be out of bed.”

“I need to get a work laptop anyway, so…”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“You are welcome - for the coffee.”

“And we’re bowling tomorrow night, right?”

“Yes. But you will have to bowl for me,” he said, lifting her mug from the counter to the plate.

“Why?”

“It hurts.”

“Poor boy,” she cooed with a grin. He just smiled to himself as he finished her drink. Eventually it was done, and he turned to dislodge her and hand her the mug.

She took it, smelling the rim and closing her eyes. “Perfect.”

She opened them again to see he had picked up his empty mug and gone to the sink by the machine. He gave it a good scrub with cleaner and hot water before rinsing it off. We went about setting up new filters and handles.

“Nice hat,” she commented, sipping her liquid gold and fully expecting it to burn her mouth but in a very good way. Her eyes smarted but she revelled in the taste. She watched his back, his shoulders work in front of her. “Is this your off-duty look for when you’re not in uniform?”

He froze, his eyes wide on the machine. “What?”

“Y’know, when you’re not in your office suit.”

“—Oh. Yes,” he said quickly. “Day off hair.”

She giggled. “Well I think it suits you,” she said. “You should wear it bowling.”

He breathed out, long and relaxed. “I might.”

“And _I_ should get back to work,” she said, as he turned with his own drink done. She lifted her phone in her other hand. “I have an _epic_ close-up of the Green Hornet’s face that I need to get to Media Processing by six.”

“A what?” he said flatly.

“Oh my god listen to this!” she gasped. She shoved her phone into the pocket of her waistcoat and grabbed his elbow, steering him across the room and out of the emergency exit. He pushed it open for her to leave first then let it swing shut behind him. “So last night I got that footage, right?” she said excitedly.

“So everyone says.”

“Yeah but _after_ that I got a close-up shot of the Green Hornet! Right in his face!”

“ _What?_ ” he demanded. His fingers loosened on his mug. He gripped it quickly before it could drop hot coffee down him. “How?”

“Well I might have kind of hit the other guy - you know, the one always in black? I think I hit him in the head. It all happened like _that_ ,” she said, snapping her fingers.

“Really? Wow,” he managed, tugging the front of his beanie hat down slightly.

“Yeah - and then when the Green Hornet was helping the guy up I took a photo right in his face! I cannot _believe_ I forgot all about it! But my heart nearly stopped about a hundred times - I don’t do field work, I do groundwork - and like it was so exciting but - but - I don’t think I want to do that again. That was the first time and I think it’s going to be the _last_ time,” she gabbled. “Man it was _crazy_ \- there was shooting and shouting and the Green Hornet guy and - and - and I got his picture!”

“On your _phone_?” he asked, wide-eyed.

“Yeah! Look!” She pulled her phone from her pocket, unlocking it. She whizzed through pictures and then turned the phone around. “See! Look!”

He stepped up and stared at it - a perfectly framed, perfectly HD picture of the Green Hornet himself, and right behind his head, a masked accomplice, blood down the side of his face - also in brilliant high definition. He swallowed, taking the phone from her slowly.

“See! How amazing is that!” she squealed. “We actually have a shot at figuring out who they are now!”

“But… you can’t see - I mean, they’re wearing masks,” he said lamely. His eyes bored into the picture in his hands.

“Yeah but with imaging - they have to be able to do that airport biotech thing, right? Estimate cheekbones and eyes etc. from what the picture can give us? I can’t _wait_ to see if this identifies them at last!”

Kato looked up at her. Then back down at the photo. “Uh—”

She plucked the phone from his grasp, admiring the shot. She sipped her coffee. “Honestly? I get how exciting it can be now - to be a journalist, I mean.”

“But you said you wouldn’t do field work any more.”

“That’s true,” she said, her face falling. She locked the phone, putting it back in her pocket. “It’s too nerve-wracking.” Her eyes went to the grass by his feet as something went through her head.

“I’m happy for you,” he mumbled.

She looked at him. “Sorry, what?”

“I’m happy for you,” he said, louder. “I mean… this is good for your job, right?”

“It is,” she grinned. “Thank you.”

“Well… I should go,” he said. “I pick you up tomorrow night, for bowling?”

“Yes please,” she said, stepping closer. “You go home and rest - don’t work too hard on that laptop, ok?”

“Ok.”

She smiled and ran a hand down his face, kissing him briefly. “See you tomorrow.” She winked at him, then turned and opened up the fire door, letting herself in.

He turned his back to the door and blew out a long sigh. His hand went up to the back of his beanie hat and he thought for a long, long moment.

ooOoo

Britt sat back from the laptop. “So that’s everything we’ve been up to,” he said. “What do you think?”

“And did you see Mike? What did he want?” Lenore asked, looking up from her notebook.

“Right so get this - he thinks we have a mole somewhere in the Sentinel, giving out stuff to other journalists or to bad guys,” he said. “On top of that, he’s got a mini task force set up to find out who Sapphire’s mole in the police department is.”

“Ok,” she said slowly, things turning over in her brain. “How do they know there’s a mole here?”

“Files keep getting downloaded onto media that’s not company issue,” he said, waving a hand. “Something about the IT department flagging overnight downloads by unregistered users, people using fake credentials to get past security - but using a computer in the office.”

“Shit,” she hissed. “What have they been downloading?”

“All the stuff we’ve ever had on the Green Hornet,” he said, his head tilting in a knowing gesture. “My guess is they’ve done it for Sapphire before our meetings so she could get the skinny on the Hornet beforehand.”

“That would make sense,” she said. “And no-one has any idea who this person is?”

“No. Other than what Sapphire said on the video - they were working for a paper in San Fransisco, then moved here round about when she did.”

“I’ll get on it,” she said, pulling a notebook from her bag and flipping to an empty page. “Did you get access to the footage?”

“Dude, I got _all_ of it,” he grinned. “Mike was only too happy to let me have a look at it - he thinks the more of us that see it the better chance there is of someone catching something everyone else missed.”

“Is it on your laptop?”

“I emailed you the link for the portal thing for the Sentinel footage file,” he grinned. “Mike showed me how.”

“And he didn’t mind that I had it?”

“I kinda told him I didn’t know how it worked, so you’d have to do the playback and everything for me,” he smiled smugly.

She nodded. “Believable.”

His smiled dimmed. “I lied. You know that, right?”

“Of course,” she said immediately with a bright smile. “Anything else?”

The office door opened behind her and Kato wandered in, his hands in his pockets. “Hey,” he said weakly.

Britt eyed the defeated slump to his shoulders, the way he closed the door carefully with a single finger as if any more effort would cause some kind of emotion malfunction. “Everything ah… ok? What’s up?”

He looked over at him. His mouth worked for a second. Then he sniffed casually but Britt wasn’t fooled. “Amy has a picture,” he managed.

“Dude she’s got _footage_ ,” Britt scoffed.

“ _No_ , Britt - she has a photo she took about two feet from your face last night. We’re both in it - close-up, high quality - a perfect shot.”

“Shit,” Britt sighed.

“Great,” Lenore heaved. “Has she already figured out it’s you?”

“No - she forgot she had it until this morning. Last night really freaked her out.” He put his free hand up in helplessness. “Now I have to do something and I don’t _want_ to.”

“What?” Britt asked, confused.

“I have to delete the photo from her phone,” he said. “If I don’t, it will be in the paper and everyone will see it. Someone will recognise us.” His hand dropped. “If I do… she will not get the picture to Mike Axford and she will look stupid in front of everyone for saying she had a photo but then she couldn’t find it.” He waved his hand. “I don’t want either of those.”

Lenore bit her lip. “Well… we have to do one of them.” She straightened her shoulders. “And you already know which one it has to be, right?”


	17. Chapter 17

Lenore sighed, running her hands through her hair. “Kato… I’m sorry. But you already know there’s only one option here… You have to delete that picture from her phone.”

He looked at his feet. “I know.”

“So… are you able to do it before she gives it to someone?” she asked gently.

“Probably.”

She got up and went over to him, putting her hands to the outsides of his shoulders and squeezing. “I’m sorry to have to ask you to do this. But you have to.”

“She doesn’t deserve it,” he muttered, meeting her eyes.

She bit her lip at his puppy-eyes expression. “I know,” she said sadly. “Believe me, I know.”

“But you _can_ do it, right?” Britt called from his seat by the laptop.

Kato looked round her to glare at him. “I said I can and I will.”

“Sorry,” Britt mumbled. “But… like… now?”

Kato sighed. Lenore let him go, going back to her chair. She turned it to watch him, seating herself. “Do you need me to help?” she offered quietly.

“No,” he said miserably. “I can do this.” He pulled out his phone, scrolling through names. At last he looked at Lenore. She nodded. He tapped the green key and cleared his throat. He waited - and then he jumped, as if only half-expecting someone to answer. “Hi yes - can I speak to Joanie, please. K _Ger_ ,” he said.

Lenore looked around at Britt. He spread his hands in cluelessness. She turned and looked back at Kato.

He was talking to someone in Chinese, his face a picture of reluctance, before he listened, answered something, and waited some more. Then he sighed. He nodded and said something else - and then cut the call. “Done,” he mumbled. “Maybe an hour.”

“What?” Britt gasped. “Who _was_ that - what just happened?”

“Someone who can remote-wipe things from iPhones, ok?” he snapped. He went to the door.

“Kato,” Lenore called. He paused but did not look round. “It was the only thing you could have done,” she offered.

“It’s still a bad thing,” he grumped. He opened the door and was gone.

She turned and looked at Britt. He put his elbows on the desk, letting his face fall into his hands. “Well shit,” he sighed. “He really likes her, too.”

“I’m getting that,” she said quietly. “Look… at least now we don’t have a close-up photo of you two all over the news.” She got up slowly, picking up her bag. “I’m going home to work out how we finally take down Sapphire.”

“Ok,” Britt managed.

She turned and left the tiny room, leaving him to sit back in the chair and contemplate the afternoon.

ooOoo

Amy wandered out of the Media Processing room, her eyes glazed, her hand squeezing the iPhone so hard it was a wonder the screen didn’t crack. People talked at her but she didn’t hear anything - she walked sheerly by auto-pilot, making it down the stairs and over to her desk.

Someone waved, someone called to her - she didn’t even notice. Her hands went to her bag and cardigan, lifting them both but letting them drag behind her on the carpet as her feet took her slowly, methodically, over to the lifts.

It was a long moment before she realised she hadn’t pressed a button. She managed it, jumping slightly when it arrived. She got in and let it whisk her and two other employees downstairs to the main lobby.

A dazed and confused walk to the bus stop made her realise that she should have her hand out. She stuck it out and let her mind wander again.

“I _had_ it - I _know_ I did,” she muttered for the fiftieth time. Her hand squeezed at the phone. “I _had_ it. I _saw_ it.” She felt herself breathing deeper, a little faster - and then she felt anger flood up her face. “I _know_ I had it!” she tutted. “I saw it - all the details, everything! The hat, the mask - the look on his stupid face!”

Something large blocked out the afternoon sun and she blinked, realising a bus had stopped for her hand. She made it drop hastily and boarded the bus, fussing with her bag and pass until she bundled herself into a seat. Then she turned the phone round, unlocked it, and checked for the hundredth time that not a single photo was left on it.

Huffing to herself, she decided to distract herself by looking out of the window. A good half an hour later she jumped to her feet, hurrying to the front of the bus as she rang the bell madly.

“Ok, lady! I got you the first six times!” the driver called.

“Sorry - missed my stop,” she managed. “Sorry!”

He muttered something but pulled the bus up at the kerb. She waved another apology and hurried out of the way, letting the bus doors close behind her. It pulled away in a little cloud of indignation and she stuffed her cardigan in her bag, beginning the lonely walk back toward her house.

As she paced, angry thoughts of frustration, of everything being unfair, swirled around inside her head, until by the time she had found her front door she was stabbing the key into it with a grunt of revenge. She pushed the door open and kicked off her high heels, not caring when they landed a good six feet inside the hallway. She stalked in, jamming her feet into the waiting Converse before she slammed the front door.

“I _had_ it!” she fumed. “I freakin’ _had_ it and I know I did!” She plonked her bag down and stared at the phone in her hand. “You goddamn _betraying_ piece of shit!” she cursed. “Thanks for turning on me! I thought we were friends! Next time I back everything up as soon as I get in!”

She stomped through to the front room as she unbuttoned her waistcoat. She peeled it off and threw it at the couch by the wall.

“Well well well,” said a voice from behind her. She squeaked in fright and jumped a full three inches in her skin. Then she turned. A woman was sitting in the armchair across from her, her legs crossed and a wide smile on her face. “If it isn’t Amy De Souza, Daily Sentinel.”

Amy backed up one, noticing a man standing behind her chair. “What the hell?” she managed. “How did you get in my house?”

“Charlie,” the woman shrugged. She uncrossed her legs to sit forwards and lean her elbows on her knees. “Look… we need to ask you some questions, Amy De Souza of the Daily Sentinel. And please, do answer them all. Charlie isn’t fond of messing up young ladies’ faces but he will if he has to. Hell, I do it for free, so don’t test me,” she said cheerfully. “Sit down.”

“Get out of my house!” she shouted, her face filling up with rage in the space of a second. “Get out! After the day I’ve had you can both just fuc—”

Charlie stepped round the chair. He crossed the room before she could blink. He grabbed her upper arms and shook her once. “Now now,” he warned. “Let’s not get angry just yet.”

“Let me go!” she cried. She pushed at him. Her foot went down onto his. He didn’t move. Then her knee flew back up and straight into him.

He coughed, bending over, letting go reflexively. She put both hands together and swung them round into his head. He went over sideways as she staggered back. She ran for the door.

A hand grabbed her hair. She was swung around. And then something slammed into her face.

She sank to the carpet, unconscious.

Sapphire shook her hand out, hissing in pain to herself. “It’s always the ones you don’t expect,” she said. She looked round at Charlie. “You good?”

“Yeah,” he coughed, his hands on his knees. “Just - just got my bell rung.”

“Well walk it off soldier,” she said, patting at his back in commiseration. “Let’s get her in the car.”

ooOoo

Kato opened his eyes, rubbing at his face. His fingers brushed at the pad in his temple and he hissed as the tape pulled at his skin. He sat up slowly, then slid his feet over the side of the bed. Yawning, he got up and pulled his basketball shorts straight. He stumbled round to the bathroom, lifting all his hair back as he got to the mirror to watch his reflection peel the tape off his head. The strips underneath were still clean and bright white; he prodded at them carefully, found them to be stuck tight, and then leant back from the mirror. Tossing the pad in the bin in the corner, he yawned and then went back to sit on the bed. He scrubbed his hand through his hair and surveyed the apartment.

He located his phone and tried to unlock it - and then found it out of power. Rolling his eyes, he got up and found his charger, plugging it in and then sitting on the nearby sofa. He watched it boot up, then scrolled through the notifications he had received, dismissing or answering them quickly.

He went to the list of messages and opened up the one second from the top. His thumb hovered over Amy’s name, and then he sighed and tossed to the phone to the couch. He sat forward, put his elbows on his knees, and let his head fall into his hands.

His phone buzzed.

He groaned and picked it up.

‘ _Britt_

_1 message_ ’

He stared for a long moment. Then he opened it.

‘ _Hey dude its already 7am and you’re not in the garage yet_ ’

He leant back and melted into the sofa, a hand going to the pads over the stitches in his right side. The phone buzzed again and he looked at it.

‘ _Lenore has something for us. Come in and I’ll make breakfast_ ’

He blinked, surprised. Then he lifted the phone and tapped a reply with his thumb. ‘ _On my way. Don’t burn the food_ ’. He pressed Send and dropped the phone, forcing himself to get off the couch and go into the bathroom.

In ten minutes he was out again, a towel wrapped round his waist and clingfilm over the white pads in his side. He checked his phone, his hair trying to drip on his hands. He scraped it all back and then opened a new message.

‘ _Morning. Ok for bowling tonight?_ ’ He bit his lip, then erased the message. He looked up, thinking. Then he typed again. ‘ _Morning. Plans for the day?_ ’ He shook his head irritably, erasing that one, too. “ _Just say ‘how bad was your day because some asshole deleted all your photos for his own selfish reasons?’_ ” he said bitterly in Chinese. He waved his hands out in helplessness, then dropped the phone to the couch and went back into the bathroom.

ooOoo

Lenore sat back in the metal chair, tapping at the keyboard of her laptop on the table. She sipped her coffee and looked out around the grounds, having to admit that the Reid residence was a very pretty, very peaceful place first thing in the morning.

Britt came through carrying a plate in his hands, thoughtfully protected by oven gloves. “Ok - ready?” he grinned.

She looked up and moved everything to one side. He set the plate down and she gazed at the scrambled eggs and bacon. “Wow,” she blinked. “You made this?”

“Hey I can learn new stuff,” he said defensively.

She grinned. “This looks great.”

“Thanks,” he said, then turning to go back inside. “Any word from Kato?”

“Not to me,” she shrugged, picking up her fork and poking it into the diced bacon. “He’s probably on his way.”

“Well I don’t think he’s doing the gym while he’s got holes in him so I hope was sleeping!” Britt called from beyond the door. He re-appeared, carrying his own plate. He put it down in front of his chair and then sat, grinning to himself. “Awesome.” He snagged a fork and stabbed a sausage, lifting it and biting the end off. “ _Man_ food tastes better when you made it yourself.”

Lenore smiled. “You’re just getting that?”

“Gimme a break - I’m trying.”

“You are - and you’re doing really well,” she allowed. Her phone buzzed next to her. “Wow. Nearly eight a.m. and the office is already busy.”

“Don’t answer it,” he said imperiously. “You’re working for me at the moment and we’re in a meeting.”

“We’re eating breakfast,” she giggled.

“So it’s a _working_ breakfast. What do we do about this Sapphire?”

“Well how about we let the DA go,” she said. “Right now Sapphire is fixating on you, and if the DA re-appears and she’s not dead after all, she’ll be protected and fussed over so much that not even Sapphire will be able to take her out. That gets her out of your wine cellar and back on the game board.”

“True,” he said. “What do we do, dump her somewhere for the cops to find?”

“How about,” she said with a sly smile, “we make it easy for her to escape? Like pretend the Green Hornet is moving her somewhere, but give her ample chance to get away? Then she’ll be the brave DA who escaped the clutches of the evil Green Hornet.”

“The clutches of the evil Green Hornet!” he gushed. “I love it! You’re a genius!”

Her phone buzzed again. She turned it face down and looked back at her breakfast. “We just need to make sure she’s ready for an escape attempt. And it has to be somewhere close to a police station so she can go straight there. I mean she’s smart, she’ll go straight to official help. And of course she’ll want to report that it was the Green Hornet. They’ll try to question her about where she was being held.”

“Well they’re not going to get anything from her,” he scoffed, munching on the sausage. “I mean she can’t see, she can’t hear anything - and if we keep that blindfold on her until the last minute then all she’ll know is that she’s in the Black Beauty and we’re on a street.”

“Good,” she nodded. Again her phone buzzed - and this time kept doing it. “Ok that’s a call - welcome to Wednesday.” She put down her fork and slapped the phone to her ear. “Morning.” She paused, then her face clouded. “What? Uh - no, not me. Have you tried…? Oh, ok. No, I don’t know.” She listened. “I don’t think she’d do that, I mean…” She paused as someone talked at length. “Yeah but… She’s not five, Doug. Just wait half an hour, ok? Don’t panic - maybe she just overslept. Alright - yes. All this will be over nothing, you’ll see.” She listened, nodding. “Ok. Bye.” She cut the call and sat back in her chair.

“What?” he asked, vacuuming up the last of the sausage and spearing the next one.

She frowned at her phone for a long moment. “That was Doug from the office. He says Amy isn’t in yet - he’s worried about her. Apparently she didn’t seem herself yesterday afternoon after a meeting with Mike. Then she just ignored everyone and walked out - and she’s not in the seven-thirty meeting about her footage.”

Britt frowned for a long moment. Then a gradual, sly grin began to cover his face as he shook his head, sitting back in his chair. “Don’t sweat it,” he said, waving a hand at her.

“What? Something could be seriously wrong,” she said sternly.

“You a genius and you haven’t figured it out,” he grinned.

“What?”

“Well… _Kato_ is always here by half seven, working on something. He’s not here. _Amy_ should have been in a morning meeting. She’s not there. You know what’s going on, right? Those crazy kids are just sleeping in. Well, not _sleeping_ -sleeping, if you get my meaning.”

Lenore studied him, then her eyes went back to her phone. She ‘hmm’ed.

“Come on - what else could it be?” Britt asked. “I’m telling you, he’s going to roll in here with a smug grin the size of his helmet, totally relaxed and pleased with himself.”

“But she’s always professional,” she said, undecided. “She wouldn’t miss a morning meeting just for an extra hour in bed.”

“Depends how good he is,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “I mean he’s a martial artist, right? I bet he’s _really bendy_ with like Olympic gold-medal stamina.”

She leant over and slapped his arm. “Stop it. You’re being disgusting.”

“Oh like you’ve never wondered?” he teased. “I know you were looking, back in the day. — _And_ when he got shot you were ready to tear his shirt off in like _seconds_. You saw how ripped he was. I mean I’m not blaming you - it was an impressive sight.”

“We’re friends and Peony needed to work on him,” she said stiffly. “Just for the record, I have not, do not, and never will date either of you.”

“So you _have_ wondered, you just never asked?” he grinned.

She slapped his shirt again. “Stop. I have a fork in my other hand.”

“Good point, well made,” he said quickly, leaning back into his chair.

She stared at her breakfast, willing the feeling of disquiet to go away. She shovelled up some egg, having to admit it was rather good. She had almost succeeded in pushing dark thoughts from her mind, and clearing most of her plate, when Britt looked up to something behind her across the grass.

“Here he is,” he said brightly.

She turned to see Kato crossing the lawn, his helmet in his gloved hand, dark sunglasses fringed by careless hair. He waved and came up to the table, pulling his gloves off to sit down opposite Britt.

“Morning,” Lenore said.

“ _Morning_ ,” Britt gushed, waggling his eyebrows. “Had a good one?”

“It’s… ok,” he replied suspiciously. “Where’s _my_ breakfast?”

Britt got up obediently, disappearing back into the house.

Lenore cleared her throat. “So… no gym this morning?”

“No - hurts,” he said, lying his gloves on the table. He eased off his sunglasses carefully, leaving them next to them.

“Doug called from the office,” she said, casually shuffling bacon onto her fork. “He says Amy hasn’t come in this morning yet.”

“I thought her part of the office goes in at nine.”

“There was some kind of meeting this morning,” she shrugged. “About her footage. Doug says she was really upset yesterday afternoon - she just blanked everyone and went home.”

Kato’s jaw swivelled from side to side as he considered his answer. “Because I erased all her photos. Including the one she was going to give to Mike Axford.”

“You had to,” she said gently. “You know you did.”

“It was still wrong.”

She sighed. “I know, but… there was nothing else you could do.”

“See?” he said, sitting forward to pin her with an angry look. “You try to say nice things, helpful things - to me all the time. So does she, and I just deleted her hard work, maybe ruining her job, and I can’t even tell her it was me and say sorry.”

She watched him sit back and fold his arms with a huff. “I get it, Kato. And I’m sorry that this situation sucks.”

He glared at the table surface. “And I don’t know what to say to her. I tried all morning to send a text and I can’t even do that.”

“Send her a text?” she asked.

Britt emerged from the house with a plate, placing it in front of Kato with a flourish. “Ta da!” he grinned. Kato looked at it - just looked. “Oh come on, dude - I spent ages making that. Try some,” he said.

Kato picked up a fork but Lenore sipped her coffee to wash down the last of her food. “Wait,” she said. “You said you couldn’t _text_ her?”

“I couldn’t think of a good thing to say,” Kato said helplessly. “I want to say are you ok but I can’t know she lost her photos, can I? So how do I ask if she’s ok when I am not supposed to know she’s not?”

“Wait - _text_ her?” Britt asked. He sat down. “You mean she wasn’t with you last night? Or this morning?”

“That’s not any of your business,” Kato warned.

“N-no but…” Britt managed, then looked at Lenore. “So… if she wasn’t with Kato and she’s not at the meeting - then where is she?”

Lenore picked up her phone. She was tapping at buttons as Kato looked from one to the other. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

Britt put his hands out toward him for calm. “She’s just late to work, that’s all.”

“How do you even know that?” he asked, lost.

“The office called Lenore looking for her. She skipped a meeting this morning.”

Kato sat back, a horrible image of Amy curled up in a ball unable to psych herself up enough to get out of bed, stealing into his head. He got up smartly. “I will go check on her.”

“Wait,” Britt said, gesturing to Lenore.

“Yeah, me again,” she was saying down the phone. “Any sign of her? And you’ve tried her phone, right? Ok - keep it quiet, Doug. Don’t tell _anyone_ , and if anyone asks she’s just late, ok? Yes please. Thank you, Doug.” She cut the call and looked up at Kato. “You go to her place - check _everything_. We might have to call the police.”

“Police?” Kato blurted, his eyes wide. “What the hell?”

“Remember the footage?” Lenore said. “I can’t _believe_ I didn’t think of this before!”

“What about the footage?” Britt demanded. “What did we miss?”

“She told Sapphire her name and where she worked!” Lenore hissed. “What’s to stop Sapphire from finding her?”

Kato whisked up his helmet and gloves, shoving on his sunglasses and turning for the grass.

“Don’t get hurt again!” Britt called.

Kato broke into a run, all the way back to his bike parked at the front of the house.

ooOoo

Stuffy, waxy fibres - some kind of musty smell - a squeak and a metallic bang. Amy felt all these things as she opened her eyes. Everything was scratchy, too close to her eyelashes, brushing her cheeks. She shook her head and realised something was over it, made of some kind of harsh, stiff fibres in a light coloured material.

She pulled on her wrists and found them stuck behind her. Wobbling herself from side to side, she heard metal feet under her scratch across the floor slightly. She bent over as far as she could, shaking her head not unlike a dog with a toy in its mouth. The covering on her head shuffled and shifted - but did not come off. She huffed and tried harder, feeling it grab at her hair as it moved gradually up toward the top of her head.

“Please don’t,” said a voice.

She ignored it, shaking her head harder to force the rough covering forward. Just as she felt it shift a whole two inches, something grabbed it from behind and yanked.

Her head was snapped back and she gasped in air. The covering was forced into her skin as she was bent back into the backrest of the chair hard. She coughed. “Ok!” she cried. “I’ll stop!”

Whatever it was let go. She bent forward slightly, coughing in air and getting her breath back. “Good girl,” said the voice. “You know, you’re more trouble than I thought you would be. But then it’s always the quiet ones.”

She bit her lip, sniffing a runny nose, and making herself sit back in the chair.

“Did you enjoy your night in the most uncomfortable position possible? We brought you here so we could control you better,” the voice went on.

“You can’t control me,” she snapped.

There was a laugh. “Oh, I think I can. Take for example your epic footage of me and my associate just last night. You got it out into the world, so thanks to you I’m no longer able to work in the same way. And now because you did such a good job of that, you’re going to do some more video taping - for me.”

“I will not.”

“You haven’t heard my offer.”

“I don’t need to. There’s nothing you could say that would make me do what you want.”

The voice laughed. “Everyone says that - don’t they, Charlie?”

“They do, boss,” said a new voice.

“And then,” said the voice, coming very close to her right ear, “I tell them a few facts and figures, and they suddenly agree to just about anything.”

“Go screw yourself,” Amy snapped.

The voice chuckled. “Hope Hospital. Room 379, east wing. Friday morning, eleven a.m.”

“Wh-what?” she blurted.

“That _is_ the next hospital appointment for your brother, right?” There was a pause. “I’m pretty sure it would be no trouble at all to take him out as he arrived, or even after. Considering his latest hospital report I might even be doing him a favour. Dying of cancer is the _worst_.”

“Wh-what?” she whimpered. “How do you know that - know _me_?”

“Oh dear,” the voice commiserated. “You introduced yourself to us, remember? Even showed us your work security badge. It was _adorable_.” A sigh. “And, well, it may be immodest of me to say but I do have many moles in many holes. I’m pretty sure I could find just about anything I wanted.”

“Then you don’t need me.”

A chuckle. “She’s a smart one,” the voice said quietly. “I do, actually. You, Amy De Souza, are in a perfect position to get me what I want. And if you don’t, bad things will happen. Specifically, to your brother.”

Amy felt her heart speeding up. “You wouldn’t.”

“Can you take that chance? You don’t even know me.”

“You - you can’t. I mean they have police in hospitals.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve solved a problem in a public facility. And hospitals are such large, confusing places. So easy to slip in and out.”

“You _can’t_ ,” she managed. Her eyes betrayed her, filling with water.

“Don’t make me,” was the casual reply. “Just do as I ask and I’ll never need to.”

“I - I can’t,” she gasped.

“It’s your choice. I mean, your brother _and_ that lovely upstanding boyfriend of yours. He seems _ever_ so nice - holds doors open for you, makes you coffee, brings you pizza,” the voice said.

“How do you - how do you know all this?” she whispered.

“We know people. People who know other people.” The voice paused. “So that’s two good reasons to work for me. How can you refuse?”

“I - I can’t,” she whispered. “It’s not right.”

“Oh, sweetie,” the voice oozed. “You’re brave, and I know you’re fighting me the only way you can, but… you’ve lost here. There’s no way out of this. And all I need you to do is go through the Sentinel’s files on the Green Hornet. I mean I have most of them but you have that new footage. I want the cleaned up, perfect version your paper no doubt has but never used in the media. And then I want you to get _new_ footage - that shows his face, clear and unambiguous. You did such a good job last night, this should be easy for you. You have two days to get me the actual proper ID for him and his annoying little sidekick. Once I have that then I’ll have no more need for you - and this whole thing never happened. Well, until the next time I need something.”

Amy clenched her teeth, determined not to let the tears spill. “I can’t.”

“And you’re still clinging to that,” the voice marvelled. “Get footage that shows who they are, and you give me a _copy_ , ok? You keep the original and do with it whatever you want. Just give me six hours’ head start. After that you can publish it, put it on the news, anything you want. How’s that for a fair deal?”

“But - but - I can’t,” she gasped. “It’s not right! I don’t work for - for - for drug dealers or gun runners or - or - gangs - or whatever you are!”

“She’s stubborn, I’ll give her that,” said the male voice.

“Ok this is getting tiresome,” the other voice said. “Make the call, Charlie. Tell them Friday at the hospital - Benedito De Souza. Make it messy. And when you’re done arranging that, go right out and find that boyfriend - cut him into small pieces. Feed him to the turtles in the park. When you get back here you can help me load Amy’s corpse into the river.”

“Yes boss.”

“Wait!” Amy cried. “Stop! Stop - please!”

“Now we get to it,” the voice said. “Well?”

“Don’t hurt anyone!” she managed. “Don’t!”

“Will you get me the files? The footage?”

“Yes! I’ll get it!” she hurled, anger making her voice thick. “I’ll get you the footage! Just don’t hurt _anyone!_ ”

There was a long silence. “Well,” the voice said quietly. “If you’re going to be true to your word, then there’s no need, is there? Just remember, we’re watching you _and_ the boyfriend. You tell anyone about any of this - or try to weasel your way out - and he’s the first casualty, your brother being the second. Do you understand?”

“Yes! Yes I understand! I’m scared shitless, not stupid!” she shouted.

“That’s all we need to know. You text me the minute you get what I want and we’ll set up a meet. Number’s on the piece of paper in your pocket. Charlie?”

“Yes boss?”

“Take her home. Make sure she doesn’t experience the ride.”

“Yes boss.”

Amy tried to twist, tried to turn her wrists.

Something smacked into the back of her head.

She wilted, as every part of her just let everything go.


	18. Chapter 18

Kato hammered on the door, then went to the window and looked through. Finding no movement, he went back to the door and banged again. “Amy! Amy open the door!” he shouted.

“Excuse me, young man!” came a voice. He spun and found an older woman watching him from over the fence. “Just what do you think you’re doing at this ungodly hour of the morning?” she demanded.

“Uh - Mrs… uh… Mrs Horbatchewskyj?” he hazarded.

“Yes? What of it?”

“I am Amy’s boyfriend,” he said, crossing the grass to come up to the fence.

“Oh - I see you now,” she said, lifting her glasses from the chain around her neck, sliding them on to peer at him. “You’re the one who helped me with my tyre that night when I thought I could ask Amy,” she said, looking rather displeased by this. “What do you want, coming over here at stupid o’clock and making all this noise?”

“Amy - have you seen Amy?”

“Boy I just got out of bed!” she snapped. “I haven’t seen anyone this morning apart from you!”

“Did she come home last night?”

“I’m not telling you that,” she grumped. “A woman’s comings and goings are her own business.”

“Yes but—”

“And I thought you were a nice one,” she said. “She’s a fine young lady you know, and she doesn’t deserve some noisy brute making her life difficult!”

“Yeah - ok,” he said hastily, backing up. “Uh - thanks.”

“Where are you going now?”

“I have to find her!” He turned and hurried back to his bike, climbing on and racing away as she just stood, her mouth open.

“Well I never,” she said. “So much for being a nice young man. Still, I suppose he was better than that one she left with last night. Now he _was_ rude.”

ooOoo

Lenore snatched up the phone and saw the name calling. She accepted the call. “Kato? Anything? Right ok - where next? …Ok. Let me know. I’m trying her phone but it’s still saying it can’t be connected. Ok.” She put the phone on the desk and looked up at Britt. “She’s not at home.”

“Well it was a long shot,” he frowned. “Can’t we like find her phone or something?”

“ _Yes_ \- good idea,” she hissed. She opened up her laptop and then paused. “Oh. I can’t do that. I think you need police access.”

“Well I was going to call the police but you stopped me, so—”

“Sshh - let me think,” she said. He paused, watching. Then she leant over and picked up her phone again. She thumbed a button and put it to her ear. “Kato! Me again. Your hacker friend - can she trace Amy’s phone? Yes I know it’s illegal but so is wiping other people’s phones remotely.” She winced and slapped a hand over her face. “Sorry. Right - yes. Let us know.” She put the phone on the table and looked up at him. “Can you drive?”

“Uh - kinda,” he shrugged.

“Right. Then choose a nice car and _I’ll_ get us ready to move when Kato’s got a location.”

“What - no,” he said quickly. “How about we get Kato back here while he’s waiting on a location, and then _the Green Hornet_ will go find Amy - and take out anyone trying to hurt her?”

She paused, thinking. “Ok… the Green Hornet shows up… snatches her for the footage… That’s a better idea.”

“Thank you,” he said, surprised.

She picked up her phone again, pressing the last number dialled. “It’s busy,” she said. “He must be on to his hacker friend.”

“Man that is cool,” he breathed. “Why don’t I have hacker friends?”

“You can afford proper wifi and new phones,” she said off-hand.

His mouth opened then stalled. He nodded. “Yeah.”

ooOoo

Kato cut the call, stuffing the phone back in his inside jacket pocket. He revved the engine on the motorbike, checking the traffic before streaking off. A few turns and a few cuts down side streets and he was making good time through the city.

He screeched up outside Amy’s house again. He ripped the keys from the ignition and barely had it parked on its stand before he tore off across the grass. He knocked on the door this time, mindful of the neighbours who would no doubt be watching from behind net curtains.

“Amy!” he hissed, in a perverse attempt to be quiet. He fidgeted, resisting the urge to bang on the door as silent seconds slipped by. “Amy!” he hissed again.

Finally the door opened a crack on some kind of safety chain. One eye looked out.

He sagged all over, relief pouring off him like rain. “You’re here!”

Her mouth worked for a moment. Then she gave a firm nod. “I am. You ok?”

His hands went to the doorframe to lean closer to the four-inch gap. “Yes! Yes! But I thought you were in trouble so—”

“Why would you think I was in trouble?”

“Well - Lenore said… She said you… ” His eyes sagged at the corners and the bridge of his nose angled up in earnest worry. “She sounded really worried like maybe something had _happened_ —”

“Don’t be silly,” she said, a little stiffly. “I was just working late and then I didn’t get back from the office till like ten minutes ago. You’re worrying over nothing.”

He paused for a second. “…Really?”

She stared, taking in his nervous smile and the way his hair tried to get in his eyes from under his helmet. Her fingers clutched at the wooden door, determined not to let her reach out for him. “Yes,” she managed. “I’m - I’m ok, just really tired. Can we do this later?”

“Has something… happened?”

She bit her lip. A sniff, a straightening of her back. “No, don’t be silly.”

“Sure?” he asked, trying to see better through the opening. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said. “We’re bowling tonight, right? Let me sleep and catch up on some work. Text me later, ok?” she smiled.

“Well… if you’re sure you’re alright,” he said, undecided.

She swallowed, resisting the urge to throw the door open and get in a bone-crushing hug. Her hand clawed at the wood on the inside, desperate to touch his jacket, to inspire the reassurance she needed. “Of course I am. What time are you picking me up tonight?”

“Uh… seven?”

“Seven is good. I’ll be ready,” she smiled. He hesitated. “Off you go, get to work. I need some sleep.”

He didn’t move for a long moment.

“Go,” she said quietly. “You can’t be here right now.”

“Uh… ok,” he said, wandering a step backward. “Uh…” He managed another step but it was in complete reluctance. “Well… let me know if you need anything.”

“You are too good to me,” she said quietly. “Go on, get.”

He waved awkwardly. “See you later.”

“See you later. —Thanks for checking on me.”

He made his hand drop and she watched him go back to his bike. He started it up, looked back at the house for a long moment, and then roared off into the traffic.

She closed the door slowly, turned, and slid down the inside. Her head went into her shaking hands and she began to cry in earnest.

ooOoo

“What?” Lenore gasped at the phone. “She’s _home_? I thought you said—.” She paused. “Ok… Yeah, I suppose,” she muttered. “Right, well… Britt and I have a plan for the Green Hornet and his masked accomplice. Can you get back here and we’ll go through it?” She nodded. “Gotcha. Drive safe.” She put the phone on the desk, sat back, and blew out a very long sigh.

“Well?” Britt demanded.

“She’s home,” she said. “Kato is… not happy. I mean, he’s _happy_ , but… he’s not happy.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Let’s wait until he gets back and we’ll ask him, ok?” she asked. “Now then - let’s work out how we release the DA and make it seem like she escaped all by herself.”

Britt sat down again, and between them they argued over cars, times, wine cellars and zip ties. Eventually they heard the sound of a motorbike round the front of the house. Britt went to get up but Lenore grabbed his arm.

“Stop,” she said. “Just… let him tell us, ok? Don’t get all demanding on him.”

Britt put his hands out. “Ok - I’ll be cool, alright? But I’m worried, man. He’s all banged up and now this wiping her phong thing has his _head_ all banged up.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “Just… take it easy.”

“Ok,” he said, plonking himself down in the seat.

Kato rounded the side of the building, already peeling off his gloves and then undoing his helmet. He simply sat in the chair opposite Britt, not saying a word as he took it off and put it on the table, dropping his gloves into it.

“So… she was home the whole time?” Lenore asked gently.

“No. She lied,” he grumped.

“What?” Britt asked, sitting upright. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Kato said quietly. “But she was _not_ there when I was. The old lady next door - she knew she was not home but she would not tell me.” He huffed, looking at the remains of his now stone-cold breakfast, still on the table. “I called my friend - she traced her phone. She said it was out by the docks all night - until just before I called her, and then it moved back to her house. When I saw Amy she said she was working late at the office and only got home just before I got there.”

“She wasn’t working,” Britt scoffed. “Everyone at the office was looking for her.”

Lenore shot him a look and he closed his mouth. She sat forwards. “Wherever she was… is she ok now?”

“Physically? Yes,” he said, then looked at her. “But… she did the face.”

“What face?” she asked, confused.

“The face that says ‘I’m ok’ but only because you’re _not_ ok.”

“It could be… the phone thing,” Lenore said quietly. “Maybe she just… wanted time to herself. Maybe she went AWOL last night and is embarrassed about it, so she lied and said she was at work.”

“And her brother is sick again,” he muttered. “This week is very bad for her.”

“Her brother?” Lenore prompted.

“She has an older brother. He has cancer - again,” he said, looking at his hands in his lap.

Lenore and Britt exchanged a glance.

“Whoa,” Britt managed, under his breath. “Tough week.”

Kato picked up a fork and then the plate, sitting back and shovelling egg onto it. “What about the DA?”

“That’s cold, buddy,” Britt said quietly, getting up. “I’ll get you a hot one.”

“Food is food,” he groused, filling his mouth.

Britt sat back down, nonplussed. He looked at Lenore. She shook her head, then picked up her coffee. “So… yeah. The DA. We need to let her go. She’s been in Britt’s wine cellar for like a week already. Sapphire won’t be looking for her any more - she’s fixated on the Green Hornet.”

Kato swallowed, still shovelling up more egg and bacon. “How do we know that?”

“It seems personal now,” Lenore said. “I mean, she called a meeting and then tried to kill you. We think DA Park should be seen to escape by herself - then the papers will give her a good public image.”

“Yeah,” Britt gushed. “The brave DA who escaped the evil clutches of the Green Hornet!”

Kato polished off half the plate, swallowing it all down hurriedly. “Why is it always the Hornet? What about the man dressed in black?”

Lenore sat back. “You know he has a point.”

“Yeah but he doesn’t have a cool name,” Britt argued. “Even the Sentinel just calls him ‘the masked accomplice’. That’s not even a superhero name, that’s a description.”

“Then if you’re the _Green_ Hornet, why isn’t he…” She paused, looking at Kato for a long moment. He paused his chewing, eyeing her. “The Black Mask?”

“The Black Mask?” he managed, swallowing quickly. “Because I am not Jet Li.”

“What?” Britt asked.

Kato rolled his eyes. “I don’t need a name.”

“So you’re happy with never being in the headlines after all?” Lenore smiled. “Look, whatever people call you, we need you, ok? We need you to help us let DA Park escape so she can be a media hero and go back to work.”

“Ok.” He scraped more food onto his fork.

“Jesus, don’t they feed you?” Britt chuckled.

Kato paused. His eyes flicked to Lenore, then back to Britt. There was an awkward silence. “Orphanages have set times for meals and if you miss it, you don’t get any - and living on the street does not hand you meals at regular times,” he grumped, emptying the plate. “So you eat everything when it’s there even if you don’t want it, because later it won’t be.”

“Dude you haven’t lived on the street for…” Britt paused, realising he was totally lost. “Uh… years?”

“Then maybe I have habits, like you always order more vodka than you need because the idea of running out gives you anxiety.”

“Do I?”

“Even _you_ can’t go through that much in a week,” Kato said, one cheek full of food.

Britt lifted a finger to wag at him. “And you know that because… Wait - I bet you stockpile snacks, right? I bet if I go over to your place you’ll have like food stashed everywhere so you never run out.”

Kato blinked at his food, his head tilting as his jaw slid to one side. A suspicion of red slid up his face.

Lenore reached out and pushed at Britt’s arm. “ _Anyway_ \- let’s get ready for tonight, ok?”

“Tonight?” Kato blurted. “What is happening tonight?”

“We let the DA go,” Lenore said with a smile.

“What time?”

“You got somewhere to be?” Britt laughed.

“ _Yes_ ,” Kato said firmly.

Britt’s smile shrank. “Oh. Well…”

“It won’t be till like midnight,” Lenore said. “You do whatever it is you need to - but be back here for that, ok?”

“Ok.” The plate now empty, he stood up, collecting up various used plates and cutlery. “Coffee,” he said, carrying everything inside.

Britt waited until he was well and truly gone. He turned to Lenore. “That dude is a basket case,” he whispered. “What do I say that won’t make his face look like I just kicked him in the jewels?”

Lenore sighed. “Just keep to the job, ok? Don’t mention Amy.”

“Right,” he nodded. He looked at her for a long moment. “Thanks, Lenore.”

“What for this time?” she smiled.

“For knowing everything.”

“I try.”

He patted her shoulder, then got up and went into the house.

ooOoo

Kato knocked on the door, then swung his hands behind his back. It opened slowly, the safety chain still across the gap, and Amy looked out.

“Hi,” he said with a smile. “You still want to go out tonight?”

“Of course,” she said. “Let me get my shoes.” She closed the door again and he heard the chain moving on the inside. The wooden entrance opened back up and she waved him in.

He walked in and closed the door, keeping his right hand behind him. She turned away from him to step into her Converse, bending to tie the laces. He surveyed the hallway, the door to the kitchen open. He caught sight of her laptop out on the table inside, the screen still up. “How is your wi-fi speed now?”

“Oh - so much faster - thanks,” she said brightly, moving to the other shoe.

“Still working?”

“Just converting some footage and stuff,” she said, straightening back up.

“Doesn’t the media department do that?”

“They’re stacked out with work,” she shrugged. “Ready?” She moved toward the door.

He stepped into her way. “Um… before we go…”

“What?”

“I have something for you.”

“Me?” she asked, surprised. She stepped closer to him, waiting.

“I heard… well someone at work said… your phone was broken, lost some data, so…” He lifted his right hand, offering her a box. “Here. A new one.”

“What?” she gasped. “A whole new _phone_?” She took the box slowly, turning it over and over, finding it an iPhone in all the sealed packaging. “Oh Kato - you didn’t have to do this.”

“I did. They… they said… you were upset the data was gone. I can’t get it back, but… Sorry.”

“What do you have to be sorry for?” she marvelled, turning the box over in her hands again. “I’m still kicking myself for not backing up the phone - it’s not your fault.”

His mouth opened. “Actually—”

“But you know what?” she smiled. “Thank you. It’s not my photos back, but I get it. _Thank_ you.” She waved the box. “Let me put this somewhere safe so I can set it up later.” She walked off into the house, and he put a hand up, rubbing it over his mouth. She re-appeared in the hallway, plucking her jacket from the peg by the door. “Well? Come on then. We need to go bowling.”

He turned to go but she reached out and grabbed his hand. He looked back at her for a long moment. “If you don’t want to go…”

“No, it’s not that,” she said quietly. She pulled and he turned to her. “Just… Thank you.” She leant up and kissed him by the mouth. “I am so glad you’re here.”

He frowned. “Are you sure everything is ok?”

“Of course,” she blustered, turning and pulling him to the door. “Come on. We need to _lose_ -lose at bowling.”

“Ok,” he said cautiously, letting himself be pulled out of the house.

ooOoo

The Black Beauty rolled out of the secret lane, heading down through the fake cars and making a silent entrance on the main road.

“Keep still,” Britt snapped, his hand out and pushing DA Park back in the seat next to him. “Don’t make me shoot you before we get there.”

“Where are we going?” she demanded, the large American football helmet bobbing as she talked. The duct tape was still plastered over the inside, blocking her view.

He glanced up at Kato, watching him in the rear-view mirror. He shook his head and Britt kept his mouth shut. Instead he pushed on her hands, now bound together with zip-ties, keeping her back in the seat.

“If you were going to kill me you wouldn’t have left me in that underground room for days on end,” she said. “Tell me what you want at least.”

“Stop talking,” Britt warned.

“You do realise if you kill me you’ll only add to the DA office’s determination to find you and arrest you - and indict you for multiple murders.” She huffed. “Let me take you in. Do the right thing here. Give us all the stuff you have on rival gangs and we might be able to reduce your sentence. You can still win here, you can still take out everyone opposing you.”

“Including you?” Britt shot back. “Just can it, lady.”

The car rolled on, turning down side roads and then winding back on itself. Eventually Kato brought it to a stop under a large bridge. He went to turn in the seat but stopped, hissing and feeling quite content to communicate through the medium of the rear-view mirror. He nodded at Britt.

He got out of his side of the car. He went around to the other side and opened up the door. He leant in and put his hands to the DA’s. “Get out,” he ordered, pulling.

She shuffled up the seat in her dress, getting her shoes out to what felt like tarmac. He pulled and she was forced up to stand. “Watch it,” she snapped.

“Don’t move,” he said, then stood back.

“What are you going to do?” she asked quietly.

He pulled a key from his coat pocket, using it to undo the locks on the helmet. He started to lift it. “Can’t shoot you with this on,” he said.

“What?” she gasped. “You’re still going to shoot me?”

“Time’s up, lady. You’re no longer useful to me,” he said roughly.

“Killing me will only add to your sentence when the city eventually catches you. You can still turn yourself in.” The helmet was lifted off. She blinked, acclimatising to the light - and then she jammed a foot on his and slammed her hands forward into the helmet. It whooshed back and into his face.

He cried out - unable to stagger with her foot trapping him to the floor, he went over backwards.

She didn’t hesitate. She kicked off her shoes. Her bare feet swivelled against the cold road. She simply ran for her life.

Britt scrambled to his feet. “Get back here!” He pulled the Hornet gun and waved it just as she risked a look over her shoulder. Then she put all her energy into the sprint.

He grinned, letting the gun drop to his side. He backed up until he was by the bonnet of the car, putting a hand to the roof over the driver’s window and looking in. “Well that’s that,” he grinned. “A successful op, I say.”

“Then let’s go,” Kato said.

Britt straightened again - then froze. Very slowly, he bent down again. “Don’t look now,” he said from the side of his mouth, “but I think we’re on camera.”

“Again?” Kato protested. “Where?”

“Don’t look,” he urged, keeping his face down. “There’s literally like an arm hanging over the bridge with a phone in it.”

“What are you talking about?” Kato demanded. He opened the door and got out. One quick glance and he had located the dangling phone. “哎呦 - 為他媽的你,” he cursed. “I’ll take care of it.” He walked toward the arm. “Hey!”

There was a squeak; something wooden shifted and suddenly a body was falling from his head height under the overpass. It landed with a pained cry on the tarmac a few feet from him.

Britt gasped and ran over, pushing himself in front of Kato quickly - Kato had to step back to avoid getting his nose taken off by his shoulder. “You again?” Britt said, making his voice bigger, deeper.

Amy coughed and massaged her head. She snatched up her fallen phone. “This whole week,” she heaved, pushing herself to her feet, “can just _bite me_.”

“Give me your phone,” Britt demanded, his hand out.

“No!”

“Your phone or - or your ass!” he snapped.

“Eeeyiiu!” She recoiled as if he were made of rotten fruit.

“I mean - I mean give me your phone or I kill you!”

She swallowed. She put one foot behind her. “N-no.”

“Give!”

“I can’t!”

He took a step. She turned to run but he grabbed her arm. He yanked her back, then fought for the phone in her grip. She wrenched and struggled but he tackled it free and stood back.

“Give me that!” she cried in fear. She jumped at him.

Kato’s glove appeared from nowhere. It deflected her attempt to get a grip on Britt. Instead it smoothed it round in a circle until it was pressed up behind her back. Something grabbed her other hand. It too was whisked up her back and she was locked in place.

“Let go of me!” She struggled. Kato pulled on her arms and she stopped hastily. He made sure he stayed well behind her as he looked over her shoulder at Britt.

“Look, lady - you’ve got some balls, ok?” Britt said. “But you can’t be taking footage of the Green Hornet. I don’t want any more film of me on the news, you got that?”

“Please - I need that!” she blurted.

“You really don’t.” He lifted it, trying to get it to unlock with his gloves on.

“Please! Please I need that! You can’t wipe it!” she begged. “I can’t fail her! I just can’t!”

“I don’t care,” Britt said, still trying to get the phone to do anything but demand a fingerprint for security.

“Just give it back! Please!” she begged. “Please! You don’t understand!”

“Oh I understand you need another scoop for your paper,” he scoffed. “Well you’re not going to get it. How did you even know how to find us?”

She struggled, trying to get her arms free. Kato simply increased the pressure on her wrists. She cried out and stopped. “Traffic cams - and I had help!” she blurted. “I had to! I had to get this - it’s already nearly Thursday morning! I’m running out of time!”

Britt huffed and gestured to Kato. “Get her finger. I need her to unlock this.”

Kato moved her hand around, attempting to stretch one finger out. She growled and clenched her fist deliberately. He sighed and pushed at the knuckles, manipulating her finger until she cried out in frustration and let it open. Britt went over and between them they managed to hold her still enough to make her finger land over the button. The phone unlocked.

“Ha! So much for security!” Britt grinned. He stepped back.

“No! Please! I need that!” she cried. “Please! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“Oh I know _exactly_ what I’m doing,” he grinned smugly. “Say goodbye to your footage, lady.”

“No!” She kicked and wrenched. It took all of Kato’s strength to stop her getting free. “No! Please! You’ll kill him! You’ll kill them both!”

Britt paused. “Who?”

“The two people who actually mean anything to me!” she raged. “Please - you’ll kill them! If I don’t get that footage back then they’re both _dead!_ ”

Britt hesitated. He looked at Kato over her shoulder, then bit his lip. “I think you’re making that up.”

“No! I’m not! Please!” she begged. “Don’t delete it! If I don’t get her that footage before Friday morning they _both_ die! If she sees me giving you that phone then _he dies first!_ ”

“Who?” Britt demanded.

She hauled in a breath. “Kato!”

“Yes?” he asked innocently from behind her. He jammed his eyes shut in abject self-kickery.

“Yes - yeah - what… are you talking about?” Britt said hastily.

“First they kill Kato and then Benedito!” she blurted. “Happy? They kill them both because I didn’t get them pictures of your face to ID you!”

Britt stood back one. “What?”

“Who will?” Kato asked. His grip loosened.

It was enough. She pulled one hand free. His grip was broken. She turned swiftly and kneed him as hard as she could in the groin.

He went down in a heap with a cry of pain. She leapt over him to run. Britt jumped after her - and grabbed her by the arm.

“What the hell, lady!” he blurted. She turned and made a grab for her phone. He stepped back as she went for his eyes. The phone toppled out of his grip and bounced on the ground. Her right hook went for his head - but he grabbed her arm and yanked her round.

Kato grunted in pain as he flopped onto his side on the ground. He shuffled forward and reached desperately. His glove closed over the phone and he rolled onto his back, trying to breath and not think about the intense pain in his nether regions.

“Just - keep - still,” Britt growled through gritted teeth, trying to enforce his bear hug round her from behind. She moved to stomp on his foot but he shifted. “Ha! You’re not the only who fights on playgrounds!” he cried. She butted her head back. He swerved and then squeezed her harder. “Stop! Just stop for one minute!” he warned. “God _damn_ you are a tigress!” He heard a noise in the road behind him. “Hey - you ok down there?”

Kato just groaned, torn between breathing in a way that didn’t make him bring up his most recent meal and making sure he still had hold of the phone.

“Dude - can you get up?”

“Wait,” Kato panted. “I cannot see.”

Britt shook her slightly. “You don’t go round giving a man a shot in the pills like that,” he accused. “Over a freakin’ phone!”

“Let me go!” she hurled, struggling again. She yanked; Britt’s grip slipped. She found herself suddenly free. The momentum tossed her to the ground. A solid _oof!_ pushed the wind from her lungs and she fought to get to her hands and knees. She panted in air and caught sight of the fallen man still on his back, her phone in his hand.

“Give me that!” She launched herself at him.

He rolled at the last second; she missed and landed flat out on her front. He ended up on his back again, past caring. Flipping back to her hands and knees she put a foot under her to get up.

She heard a _ppffffff_ ; something green clouded her eyes. She sank to the ground. Britt stood back, looking at the two people now lying in the road.

He put the Hornet gun away and just eyed them both, shaking his head. “Well, shit.”


	19. Chapter 19

Its tyres squealing on the smooth surface, the Black Beauty slowly drifted into the garage. As it came to a rest Kato cut the engine. Both men sat back in silence for a whole minute.

“Wow, dude,” Britt managed quietly.

“Where do we put her?”

Britt sighed, taking off his hat and scrubbing his hand through his hair. “I dunno, man… Wine cellar? I mean we only have to hold onto her while we think of something.”

“She said her brother will die Friday morning,” he urged.

He shoved his hat back on. “Benedito’s her brother?”

“Yes!”

“Ok - alright - calm down,” he soothed. “How’s this for a plan: we keep her in the trunk until I can get Lenore to tell us what to do.”

“Do it.”

Britt climbed out of the car and stretched, shaking his head and searching through his pockets for his phone. He took a deep breath, calling the number and hoping it wouldn’t go to voicemail.

The line clicked. “It’s after one in the morning.”

“Hey,” he said, relieved. “So… we have a situation here and we need you to tell us what to do next.”

“Of course you do,” was the arch reply. “What now?”

“Well… we let the DA go - she like head-butted me and made a break for it - I made like I was going to shoot her and she just _sprinted_. It was awesome,” he grinned. He wandered further away from the car, glancing to make sure Kato was still in the driver’s seat. He appeared to be slumped back, rubbing his forehead. Britt cleared his throat. “And then… we hit a snag.”

“What kind of snag?” she asked.

“Well… Amy appeared. She was trying to get more footage of us.”

“ _What?_ ” she gasped. “Where is she?”

“We stopped her - she was filming us on her phone. We got it off her, but… I had to gas her.”

“Just delete it and let her go.”

“We can’t do that.” He swallowed. “I don’t think we know the whole story but… if she doesn’t get this footage to someone in like twenty-four hours then whoever it is will try to kill her brother. And… and Kato.”

“ _What?_ ”

“I know, right?” he said weakly. “We’ve got her in the trunk and we’re back at the house. She’s gassed and Kato’s trying to keep down whatever he ate last, so—”

“What are you talking about?”

“She kinda booted him in the nuts,” he winced. “Man it was _savage_. Poor dude couldn’t breathe for like five minutes.”

“Does she know who he is?”

“No!” he said quickly. “He didn’t say much - I was trying to stand in the way - and I gassed her before she could cause a problem.” He paused. “What do you think?”

“I think… you two are the most problematic vigilantes that ever existed,” she sighed.

“Hey it’s _his_ girlfriend’s fault.”

“Alright, just… keep her in the car till I get there, ok? We’re going to have to find out her side of the story here. And she can’t recognise you, or Kato, or the inside of your place, ok?”

“Got it.”

“I’m serious - wait for me.”

“Ok - yeah.” The line cut and he sighed, putting the phone in his pocket. He walked back up to the car. He leant to look in the driver’s window. “Can you walk now?”

“Screw you,” Kato protested.

“Hey - that was an all-star punt she gave you, ok? I was just asking, dude,” he said, somewhat defensively.

Kato looked at him for a long moment. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok, buddy,” he said, reaching in the window and shaking his shoulder. “Getting sacked in the jewels like that always makes me cranky for like a whole day. Anyway… Lenore’s on her way over. She’ll sort this whole mess out.”

ooOoo

The door to the wine cellar, very thick and soundproofed, watched in aloof amusement as the three humans standing not too far from it exchanged furtive looks. The woman, taller and more serious, had her arms folded in a show of either leadership or plain old one hundred percent done-ness at the situation. A man in a brimmed hat and a long coat looked to be listening very intently, and the shorter man in black had his arms folded in a way that suggested he had given up on life a few hours ago.

Lenore cleared her throat. “Britt, it’s up to you.”

“Why me?” he asked, surprised.

“One, you’re the Green Hornet - the one with the name, remember? Two, Kato can’t go in there.”

“Why not?” Kato asked.

“Because she’ll recognise you,” she said.

“But she won’t see us,” he argued. “She has a thing over her head.”

“She’ll recognise your _voice_ , dude,” Britt said. “She met me like once, right? She’s not going to know it’s me. But all it takes is like you to say something she’s heard you say a few hundred times before and she’ll work it out straight way, right? She’s a brainy one.”

Kato huffed. “Then be careful. She _is_ smart - and she will try to make you let her go _with_ the film on her phone.”

Lenore turned Britt round, pushing him toward the door. “Not a problem. I’m coming with you,” she said.

“What?” Britt asked.

“I won’t speak, idiot. I’ll help you.”

“Oh. Ok.” He put his hand on the door, then looked back at Kato. “You’ve been beaten up enough these past few weeks. Take a break, Glass Balls.”

“Glass what?” Lenore asked, confused.

“You know how some people have a glass jaw?” Britt grinned. “Well poor Kato has glass—”

“At least I _have_ balls,” Kato shot back.

Britt tutted, appalled - and then realised Kato was trying not to smile. He grinned abruptly.

Kato waved a hand up in resignation, stepping back. He watched them go into the room, closing the door behind them. Then he sighed and wandered off down the corridor, finding the stairs to take him back up to the main house.

He peeled off his gloves, took off his hat, and released his mask to amble through to Britt’s mancave. He dropped himself into the couch and his things to the seat next to him. He let his head lean back and pretended he was waiting, but then he had to admit to himself that he was actually just really _really_ tired. His eyes closed for just a second.

ooOoo

Amy’s head, dressed rather fashionably in an ice hockey jersey that was wrapped around more times than strictly necessary, turned toward the sound of a door opening. Her wrists pulled again at the zip ties keeping her secured to the chair. She swallowed and her feet clenched themselves together in her black Converse.

“Ok,” Britt announced. “Now you’re going to do me a huge favour and tell me what the hell is going on here, lady.”

She kept her mouth shut, listening to him walk round behind her.

“What is this, the silent treatment?” he asked with a smile. “I thought you said you were running out of time. Are you gonna explain what _that_ was all about?”

She huffed but said nothing.

Six feet away, Lenore waved her hand to get Britt’s attention. She pointed at her, then the phone in his gloved hand. He nodded.

“I’ll just go ahead and delete this footage then. I mean, if you’re not going to tell us anything then it can’t be that important.”

“No!” she blurted, her voice muffled. “Please - I’ve told you all you need to know. I need that footage or two people die. And then probably me.”

“Who are you trying to give it to?”

“Please - just give me the phone and I’ll disappear,” she said. “I won’t even use it at the paper - I’ll just hand it over and move. You’ll never see me again. I’ll go to Canada, Australia - even Florida. I don’t care.”

He looked at Lenore. She waved her hand round in a circle.

“Tell me or I delete it,” he said simply.

“No! You’ll kill them!”

“I think you mean _you’ll_ kill them by not telling me,” he corrected smugly.

She huffed through her nose. “I have to give her that film so she can identify you, find you in real life. If I don’t she’ll kill my boyfriend and then my brother. I’ve got till about eight a.m. Friday. How many hours is that now? I don’t even know how long I was out.”

He flicked a look at his watch, found it nearly three in the morning, and walked around her slowly, making her tilt her head as she listened. “Tell me who it is. I mean I’m pretty sure I know, but… you confirm it for me. Then maybe you and me can make all this go away.”

“What?”

“I can’t have her roaming the streets of _my_ city, causing havoc and making profit when that should be what _I_ do. If you tell me where she is maybe I can get to her first. Keep your dumb footage; who cares? But I get to take _her_ out, and no-one you know gets hurt.” He paused. “Sound better than handing this over and probably being her bitch for the next ten years of your life?”

Her head hung slowly, and then it shook. “I can’t trust you.”

He looked at Lenore. She pointed at him, wavered her hand, then made an S shape in the air, wavering her hand again.

“You can’t trust _her_ ,” Britt said, nodding. “What if she gets this footage and tries to take me out - but when she fails she’ll go and kill everyone you’re trying to protect anyway? What did she promise you? That she’d let you all go afterwards with free cake and balloons?”

“She said she only wants a copy of the footage - I can keep the original, do what I want with it. She just wanted a few hours’ head-start to find you.”

“It’s Sapphire, isn’t it?” he asked. She didn’t answer. He looked at Lenore, who was shaking her hands by her head in frustration. “Ah - see? Now I _know_ it’s her,” Britt blustered. “Look, why are you protecting her when she’s obviously going to kill you once she’s got this film?”

“I’m not protecting her, I’m protecting _them_ ,” she shot back. “What if you fail? How do I squirm out of that after it looks like I helped you? She’ll kill them both.”

“And you.”

“If I get them killed… then maybe I deserve it,” she said quietly.

He looked at Lenore. She tapped at an imaginary watch on her wrist. He nodded. “Ok, I’m out of patience,” he huffed. “We’re going to give you your phone with the footage still on it. You arrange to meet her, tell her you’ll hand it over. We get there too, mess her up, you high-tail it out of there and she gets arrested or worse. How do you like them apples?”

She thought for a long moment. “And her assistant, Charlie?”

“Oh I think my partner in crime wants a word with him. He’ll be lucky to be breathing by the time the police turn up.”

“Is this the same partner in crime who was close to death because I kicked him in the nuts?” she asked smugly.

“You know what?” he said sadly. “I don’t think you’ll ever really understand how much that hurt.”

“Must be a man thing,” she said with a smile.

He bounced the phone in his hand. “Doesn’t change the fact that you’re now working with the Green Hornet - there’s nothing you can do about it, and it might just get you free of all this.”

“And what’s in it for you?”

“I just want Sapphire gone, I told you. I couldn’t care less what happens to some lowly junior reporter over at that crappy rag.”

She took a deep breath, sighing it out. “Ok, fine. I can’t stop you following me to the meeting. But I warn you - if you try anything - if you get either of my boys hurt - I will find you and I will _end_ you.”

Britt grinned, looking at Lenore. She put her hands over her mouth, smiling and giving a nod. He wiped his face straight. “Same goes for you, lady. You warn Sapphire we’re coming, or tip off the cops? You won’t live long enough to worry about ‘your boys’.”

Lenore waved at him, toward the door. He nodded and they hurried out, closing the door behind them.

Britt waited until he was sure the soundproof padding was sealed. “Dude - awesome!” he grinned. “Wasn’t I awesome?”

“You were,” she giggled. “But… let’s never tell Kato how happy she was at kicking him in the nuts.”

“Yeah I don’t think he would enjoy knowing that,” he said - then burst out laughing.

“Stop,” she grinned, pushing at his shoulder. “Now we have to work out the meeting - like, really carefully. If we get this wrong she could lose her brother - and we could lose worse.”

“Hey, chill,” he soothed. “We got this. You’re the master strategist and Kato will wipe the floor with everyone.”

“And you?”

“I have a smart mouth and the Hornet gun - what could go wrong?”

ooOoo

Britt opened the back door, helping her out of the back seat. “Right. You got a burner phone here, alright? Untraceable.” He pushed it into the front pocket of her jeans, being careful not to touch her. “You make the deal for tonight - that’s Thursday night, ten p.m. We’ll take care of everything else.”

She pulled on her hands. “Can I get this off my head now? It stinks.”

He pulled out a pocket knife, cutting the zip ties round her wrists before he backed up to the open car door. She was pulling the ice hockey jersey off her head, blowing air from her face. She found herself by the rear of the car, on the passenger side.

“Get ready for the meet,” he said as he got back in the car, pushing his hand through the open window. “Don’t do anything stupid. Remember you have people depending on you to get through this whole thing and come out the other side.”

She tossed the jersey at him and he caught it, pulling it in the car. “Whatever. Just go. And _do not_ mess this up. Remember I’m counting on _you_ to get me through this and out the other side.”

“Well alright,” he nodded with a smile. He tapped the back of the seat in front.

The car roared into life and she squeaked in fright, stepping back quickly. She peered through the car, trying to see the driver, but it moved away and she was left on the kerb, under a rather too bright streetlamp.

She looked around, getting her bearings. Finding a street corner she recognised, she hurried along, her arms round her to keep the chill off. As she turned the corner and caught sight of her house she grinned in relief.

It lasted until she got to the front door and slid her key into it. Then she frowned in sudden realisation.

“Shit,” she breathed. “That means _he_ knows where I live too.”

She opened the door and went in, closing it securely behind her.

ooOoo

A strange sound of almost sizzling made him pause, and then turn around to go back past the inside door to the garage. He poked his head in to see sparks flying from the front bumper of a Black Beauty, punctuated by the occasional metallic thump. A large welding helmet hovered around the far side, mostly obscured by the headlights, and Britt folded his arms, walking in. “Whatcha doing?” he asked hopefully.

The sparks did not stop. “Working.”

“I can see that… I meant what are you working _on_?”

“One of the back-ups.”

Britt sighed, his hands falling to bury themselves in his jeans pockets. “Can I help?”

_Now_ the sparks stopped; Kato knelt up by the bumper, opening up the helmet and looking over the bonnet at him. “What now? I’m busy.”

“Yeah and I’m trying to help, dude,” he said. “Literally _everyone_ has been using you like a punchbag this week and I just…” He sighed. “I wanted to help. But… if I’m in the way then I’ll go.” He turned and took a step.

“You really want to help?”

He paused, not turning around. “Yeah. I mean I know I’m a complete klutz but… yeah, I do.”

Kato pushed himself to his feet, looking at his large heat-proof gloves. “Then… go check the screen over on the workbench.”

“Cool,” he breathed, crossing to the other side of the room. He slid round the workbench, sitting on the stool and looking the screen over. “What’s this?”

“The burner phone you gave Amy. It’s tracking it.”

“It’s not moving.” He pointed at it, then looked at the reams of data underneath it. “Uh… I think it’s been in the same place for like… it says here since zero three forty-two.” He sat up. “Is that the time this morning?”

“Yes. She called in sick to work, stayed home,” he said.

“Good girl,” he nodded. “Man, I mean - she’s wild, right? Is she like that all the time? You heard her talking back to me, right, when she thought I was this mean mob boss?”

Kato sighed, pulling his gloves off as he walked round to lean on the opposite workbench, his welding helmet still pointing up at the ceiling. “No. I think you scared her. A lot. And scared people do extreme things.”

“Oh,” he said. “Not sure how to feel about that.”

“Not good.”

“But hey - this will all be fixed tonight, right?” Britt smiled. “I mean, we’re going to take out Sapphire and end all this. Then me and Lenore go out and party all night with friends and you celebrate with Amy.”

Kato pulled the helmet off slowly, ruffling his hair back. The white Steri-strips in his temple flashed up all too keenly under the garage lights before his hair fell over them again. “I hope so.”

“I _know_ so, dude! Come on, have a little faith. And hey - you get a chance to kick the crap out of that Charlie asshole - again.”

“Hmm.”

“Look, if it goes really bad then I’ll just gas everyone, ok?” He paused. “What were you doing to the car, anyhow?”

“Reinforced plated armour,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“Should help stop armour-piercing bullets.”

“Awesome,” Britt nodded. He looked back at the screen, then over at Kato. “You know, it’s a pity Amy doesn’t know about all the cool shit you do on a daily basis.”

“If she knew what I did at night she would not want to know me,” he said miserably.

“I don’t know,” he said, wagging a sly finger at him. “I mean… she puts up a fight and all, but… she’s prepared to break the law to save people. Isn’t that what _we_ do?”

“No - we _choose_ to do this. She was _forced_ to do this. It’s very different.”

“Not so much,” he shrugged.

“We’re prepared for it. She’s just… desperate.”

Britt eyed him. “Ok - let’s change the subject. When we’re all done here and Sapphire is locked up, are we _finally_ going to go to one of the cool bars you know?”

“Definitely,” he nodded.

“Cool, because…” He glanced at another screen, on his right. “Hey is this real TV? Live?”

“Yes.”

“Holy crap - look! It’s the DA!”

Kato came round the bench to look round him at the screen. “Turn it up.”

Britt slid his finger across the bottom of the screen and the volume leapt up. The DA was standing outside a building, her hands leaning on the edges of some kind of announcement lectern. She looked more imposing than usual, her face hard with accusation, her black suit giving every impression she could quite happily throttle the next person who asked a stupid question.

She pointed at someone in the crowd of reporters in front of her. “Yes - go ahead.”

A microphone was lifted higher than the others and a woman’s voice called out. “Are you taking any action against the Daily Sentinel for breaking a news story claiming you were dead?”

“Not at this time,” she said smartly. “They appeared to be acting on good intel.”

“But they said they had photographic evidence of your dead body!”

“And they will be asked to print whatever retraction is needed, on top of every other news outlet already rubbing their noses in how bad they got it wrong. I really don’t see the point in any litigation against them. That would be a waste of time - I’m here to see that actual criminals get prosecuted, not media outlets making an error in their fact-checking.” She pointed to another hand. “Yes?”

“Are you certain you were held by the Green Hornet?” a voice called.

“That’s already in my statement - there’s no doubt in my mind. I saw him with my own eyes. And the next time I see him he _will_ be in custody.” She pointed to a slow-waving smartphone. “Yes, please.”

A man’s voice floated over the crowd. “How will you do this, DA Park?”

“I’ve convened a new task force specifically dedicated to finding and incarcerating this man,” she said firmly. “It’ll come into play in the next few weeks.”

Kato slapped the back of his hand into Britt’s arm. “We’re in trouble.”

“Sshh,” he said, gesturing at the screen.

“But how will you find him in the city?” a voice called.

“That’s literally what the team is for,” she replied.

“Are you worried that this will look like you just want revenge on the man who kept you captive?”

“I don’t care what it looks like - he’s still wanted for the murder of DA Scanlon and for the destruction of a significant amount of public property that was replaced at great cost to the taxpayer. He’s also waging a private war against other unsavoury underworld elements and that puts our emergency services personnel and innocent civilians in danger,” she snapped. “It’s time he was brought to justice and all this stopped.”

Kato reached out and turned it down again. “She will find us and arrest us,” he urged. “Now we’re screwed.”

“Not yet,” Britt said. “We just have to get through tonight, ok? Then we lay low for a while. Take a holiday or something. Sleep in, rest up, eat pizza, have a pool party or five… that kind of thing.”

“Tonight,” Kato sighed, wiping a hand over his face. “Just get through tonight.”

“Yeah, man - don’t sweat it.” He paused. “Hey - you know what we need?”

“More time?”

“No.”

“Beer?”

“ _No_ ,” Britt smiled. “What we need on the car.”

His hand dropped and he watched him. “What?”

“Like proper heavy-duty gas for doing a whole room. I mean if we can shoot it out the front of the car and take out like twenty guys at once, that makes our lives easier, right?”

Kato was nodding, backing up slowly. “ _Yes_ ,” he hissed, starting to smile. “I have gas in reserve.”

“Of course you do,” Britt grinned.

“We just need gas masks so it doesn’t get _us_.”

“Oh. Well - yeah,” Britt said hastily. “I was just going to say that.”

Kato turned and walked back toward the car, his head to one side as he mused to himself.

Britt wandered after him, his hands in his pockets again. “So… can I help at all?”

Kato paused as he thought for a second. “Actually? I need someone to hold all the things still while I attach them.”

Britt grinned, rubbing his hands together. “Awesome! Let’s get started!”

“Just don’t drop anything.”

“Don’t weld yourself to the wrong thing.”

“That’s not how welding works.”

“And you’d know this how?”

“I was literally welding when you walked in, Britt!”

“I’m totally joking.”

“You’re a frustrating pain in the ass!”

“And now _you’re_ totally joking. —Right?”

Kato frowned at him so hard dimples appeared. “Of course I am.”

Britt reached out and patted the side of his shoulder. “Come on, dude - what are we fixing?”

Kato appraised him for so long Britt backed up one, looking around in tangible uncertainty. But then Kato shook his head. “I think we fixed it. Now we just do the car.”

“Excellent!” He slapped his hands together. “Where do we start?”

ooOoo

The Black Beauty rolled nearly silently round the side of the building. Kato peered through the front windscreen, eyeing the brick structure and letting his face twist into a thoughtful grimace.

Britt, in the back seat, resisted the urge to touch any buttons at all on the iPad-sized device next to him. He watched the flickering little blob on the screen as it hovered around a corner of white blocks. “She’s stopped.”

“Zoom in,” Kato said quietly.

Britt took off a glove and touched at the blob - and a whole host of information came up. The perspective whooshed in close until the blob was nearly the size of the screen. Then it shrank into the new sized blocks, and he grinned. “Dude - you made this?”

“I adapted the app that came with the tracker.”

“Well you _adapt_ some crazy shit, man. You’re like a magician.” He shook his head. “And Lenore staging that whole music and lights thing at my place while we sneak out the underground Hornet exit? Genius. I mean, anyone watching is going to be seriously misled.”

“I still don’t get why she made us do that.”

“Dude - Amy said they’d kill you, right? Well they must know everything about you - where you live, where you’ve been with Amy, what you do. So Lenore’s right - they must have tabs on people. The only time they wouldn’t be able to see what you’re doing is when you go through the front door of my dad’s house. They have to wait till you emerge halfway through the night, also through an obvious door, right? They can’t know you’re the masked man or they would have been onto us already. So let’s go with it - let them think Britt Reid and Kato are pulling an all-night party at mine. Can’t hurt to throw people off the scent.”

“But why invite all those people?”

“Because it’s a _party_. —Lenore deserves a night off. And hey, her cool niece Peony is there with her med friends, so it’s a win-win, right? I mean when do med students get free drinks and a party?”

Kato ‘hmm’ed. “Is she here yet?”

He studied the picture on the screen. “She’s… moving. Like… I think she’s on the next street. She’s going pretty fast - in a car, maybe?”

“This might work.”

“Hey - this is going to go _brilliantly_ \- just another challenge for the Green Hornet, his awesome partner Kato, and their rolling arsenal the Black Beauty!” he grinned.

“Sshh - look!”

Britt leant closer to the back of his seat, staring through the front windscreen. “She made it.”

A taxi cab was pulling up at the kerb about ten yards in front of them. Someone moved round inside, then the rear door opened. Amy climbed out, black skinny jeans, some kind of dark t-shirt and a black hoodie protecting her from the night air. The cab pulled away and she turned in a circle, looking around. Her long brown hair had been tamed by first a ponytail and then by furiously twirling it into a tight flat circle, all of that pinned to the back of her head. She put a hand inside her jacket and pulled out a small black, handheld item. She lifted it a shade and then pressed something, causing sparks to dance over it.

“Is that a Taser? Dude, she plays to _win_ ,” Britt gasped. “I’m going to be honest with you - I’m a little scared of her right now.”

“I’m more scared she will get hurt.”

Britt slapped a hand down on the back of the seat. “The moment we think she’s made contact we swoop, ok? You get the car through the wall, we fire all the gas, get our masks on, and beat the crap out of every single person. Cops arrive, us and Amy get out of there - easy.”

“Easy things never are,” he grumbled.

“Ok, Confucius, let’s go.”


	20. Chapter 20

Amy walked to the only door in the building, finding it made of metal and quite heavy. Pocketing her Taser, she pulled at the handle, poking her head through the gap.

“Hello?” she called. “It’s me! I’m here with the footage! Don’t shoot me!” She swallowed, made herself stand straighter, and pulled the door wide open. She stepped in gingerly, looking up and around at the interior.

Empty but barely twenty feet square, the room’s only occupants appeared to be dusty pieces of office furniture. As she made her way to the middle of the room she noticed a door at the back. She pushed at it carefully, allowing it to swing open.

“Cutting it fine, aren’t we?” Sapphire asked from her vantage point in the next room. Seated quite comfortably in the middle on a swingy chair, her legs were crossed, her right hand sitting on her knee - holding a handgun pointed straight at Amy. “I mean your brother’s appointment is in less than twelve hours, and your boyfriend… well, you should really rethink that situation. He’s at a party at his boss’ house right now. With a bunch of other women.” She shrugged. “I would say that I don’t think he deserves your loyalty, but then, I don’t want to weaken your reasons to give me that footage.”

“Not that it’s any of your business,” Amy snapped, “but I know. It’s a work thing.”

“Riiiight,” Sapphire said, with enough sarcasm to sink the Titanic. “That’s what we’ll keep telling ourselves.”

“Do you want the phone or not?” Amy asked. She pushed her hand inside her jacket.

“Ah ah ah!” Sapphire warned, her gun lifting to aim better. “Slowly, please. Not that I don’t trust you - but I don’t.”

Amy opened her fingers, letting just her index finger and thumb lift the phone by its top corner. She held it higher, her other hand out to show it was empty. “It’s just the phone, ok? I want to live through this.”

“Good girl,” Sapphire said. She lifted her chin. “Charlie!”

The rather tall example of a battering ram appeared through the door behind Amy. She jumped and nearly dropped the phone as she looked over her shoulder at him. She turned and held it out to him, backing up.

He pointed toward it. “Unlock it.”

Her thumb slid over the button, and then she tapped at more settings. “I’ve taken off the security,” she said. “Anyone can unlock it now.”

“You _are_ a smart one,” Sapphire mused. “Shame. I was looking forward to having to cut your finger off to keep it with the phone.”

Amy tossed it at Charlie, stepping back. “Are we done?”

He turned the phone around, going to the photos app and scrolling. “Just two videos, boss.” He pressed at the first one, beginning to smile. “It’s pretty good. I mean it’s upside down, but… it’s a zoomed-in shot.” He carried it over to Sapphire, holding it out for her to see.

She grinned. “Not bad. How the hell did you get so close?”

“They were doing something round the back of that massive car,” she said. “I didn’t stick around to see.”

Sapphire nodded and Charlie pressed the next video. This one appeared to be mostly pavement, and then a very blurry shot of the side of someone’s face behind a black mask. It focused itself and Sapphire frowned. “Who is that?” she asked. “Play it again, quickly. I think that’s the closest we’ve ever got.”

Amy put a foot behind her. She managed two more steps toward the door before, without even looking, Sapphire raised her gun at her.

“Stop there,” she called. “We’re not done checking the merchandise.”

“Take it,” Amy said. “You said you wanted the footage - you’ve got it in your hand. All I want is my boyfriend and my brother.”

Sapphire looked up. “Ye-ah… about that.”

“What?”

“Well, now we have the footage we don’t need _any_ of you, do we?”

“ _What_?” Amy demanded in anger.

“Oh come on - try to see it from my point of view,” Sapphire smiled. “I can’t have loose ends hanging around. I’m afraid you’re going to have to go. If it’s any consolation you _will_ be dead before the others - you’ll never be in a world without them and they’ll never know you let them down.” She turned and nodded to Charlie. He went to the door behind Sapphire’s chair and opened it up - and another ten people filed through, automatic pistols at their sides. Sapphire turned back to look at her. “So there’s that at least.”

Amy looked them all up and down in astonished anger. “You lying—! I freakin’ _knew_ you’d turn on me!”

“And yet here you are,” Sapphire sighed. “Not exactly the smart bitch now, are we?”

“Look up. _Bitch_.”

Sapphire’s smile drained away. She and Charlie swept their gaze up - and up.

There, in the centre of the ceiling above them, was a shiny black orb, something with a red light moving around inside.

“What - the hell - is that?” Sapphire demanded flatly.

“A camera. My colleague from the Daily Sentinel put it there about four hours ago - he’s watching it right now from the safety of another office,” Amy said defiantly, her chin out in vindication. The silent people spread out, eyeing it gingerly as they slowly edged their weapons behind them, out of sight. “If you let me, Kato and Benedito go, the recording stays with me,” Amy was saying. “If you kill me or if anything unfortunate happens to either of them, then that goes viral. Everyone will see you murder me in cold blood - everyone will know it was you that hurt them.”

Sapphire smiled, shaking her head. “You think I fear exposure?” She stood up slowly, gesturing Charlie out from behind her shoulder with her free hand. “It’s way too late for that.” She levelled the gun at her.

A revving noise made her pause.

Charlie tilted his head as it got louder. “What—?”

The outside wall exploded as the Black Beauty ploughed through it. The car carried on straight through the interior wall. It slid to a stop mere feet from Amy - who screamed and leapt to one side. People spilled left and right in a bid to keep their appendages.

Sapphire didn’t think - she fired straight at the driver beyond the windscreen. The bullets pinged off. Something hit the wall, the ceiling.

Two squares opened up in the bonnet. Two tiny jets appeared - green gas darted across the room.

Sapphire clamped the inside of her elbow over her mouth and nose. “Go! Go! Go!”

Men scattered. Charlie was trying to cover his mouth as he leapt at the car. People lifted weapons, aimed at Amy, the car - anything. One woman coughed and slumped straight to the floor, out like a light.

Britt opened up the back door. His fist shot out into Charlie’s face. He staggered back.

Out of nowhere red and blue lights shone into the half-destroyed room. “Alright! This is the police!” came a voice over a loud speaker. “We have you surrounded!”

Kato slipped the loops of a slim gas filter over his ears, adjusting it over his nose and mouth. He grabbed the door release and yanked. “Easy my ass,” he cursed.

Britt was swinging a fist into a man’s face. He fell but another pushed at him. He let off a string of shots right by his ear. Britt shifted the diminutive gas mask over his mouth and elbowed the man. He staggered back.

Amy backed up in fear as a woman advanced on her. She snatched up the nearest object - a broken table leg - and brandished it at her. She laughed as she raised her gun.

Something black flashed into the side of the woman’s head from behind. Stunned, falling, there was just time for it to strike her again. Amy threw herself back against the wall - and saw the owner of the flying boot, a man dressed in black. He looked at her, adjusting his gas mask straight. “Don’t move!” he warned.

Her mouth opened but he spun and his foot went into a police officer’s face. He ducked a punch, back-fisted the owner, spun and kicked into another man. Someone in blue grabbed for him. He snapped back as if made of rubber bands. His foot flicked up. It cracked into the gun. Spinning up into the air, it was unceremoniously snatched and pointed back at the former owner’s face. The man gasped. The gun was dropped. The assailant sprang backwards - smacking into Britt’s back.

He turned and swiped a fist into his head. The man dropped and he nodded in satisfaction. He turned - and was punched squarely in the face. He swung a fist back and caught someone in the head. He kicked randomly and felt it connect with something. He heard someone cry out. From the corner of his eye he saw a body fly up into the air just as he swung into another man trying very seriously to get a clean shot at him.

A squeal of pain and a crash told him another man had landed somewhere in the room. He tried to look but something grabbed his shoulder. He managed to yank on it; he pounded his fist into something hard.

“Ow! It’s me!” Kato protested.

“Sorry dude,” he blurted, letting go and standing back. “I can’t even see with this mask and this gas - uh - mask on!”

“Punch someone - someone _else_!”

“I am!” He lurched toward another police officer. Smacked in the face not once but twice, he hit back until the man was on the ground.

Amy gasped as a man came running for her. She grappled desperately in her pocket for her Taser. But the man stopped short just feet from her, yanked back from behind. A black and white glove hammered into his temple and he dropped to the ground, revealing the man in black standing over him. He looked at Amy for a second. Then he whipped around and punched at a police officer. He backed up as a man with a gun leapt at him. His left boot arced up and swept him to the ground. Another man was trying to unjam a gun. He dropped it and just punched at his mask with all his strength. He was thrown back directly into Amy. She was plastered against the wall as the man in black let fly with a succession of punches so fast the recipient was hammered back. They lost their balance and fell. He planted a boot in their face. Amy reached out carefully to the black coat. She pushed gently, making him take a step away from her.

His head snapped over to their right. Amy glanced up to see another man coming for them. The man in black took a running jump and his foot collided with the man’s head.

Britt slammed his fist into another face, then another. Something gave a smash and a tinkle. He glanced over and saw a boot arcing through the air into someone’s chest. Wood flew, someone cried out, a smashing sound heralded another downed assailant. Kato landed gracefully on his feet.

He looked around the floor, finding people and police officers sprawled in various states of consciousness.

Britt reached out to Kato and the two men high-fived each other.

Amy swallowed. “Uh - fellas?”

They turned and looked over at her. She pointed through them.

They shared a long look before they spun right round - and found three police officers standing behind them, weapons drawn. Britt jumped in surprise; his hands started to go up. But Kato took three steps back - and then powered forward. A leap and a twist saw his foot fly into the chest of the first officer. His other boot went into the second face; the knee attached to the first leg went into the last man standing. He landed awkwardly but caught his balance.

Britt clapped. “Yeah, see?” he grinned.

“Not bad,” said Sapphire, appearing from the far corner. “Pity your gas ran out. Now we’re even.”

Kato straightened his coat, dusting off his sleeves. He stepped over an officer, walking toward her.

But Charlie appeared from round her and put a hand out. Kato backed up one, looking him up and down. “Now now, Tiny,” he sneered.

“That’s _Mr_ Tiny to you!” Britt snapped.

Charlie ignored him, still glaring at Kato. “I owe you for the first time we met.”

“Well you _do_ need to pay me for my dry cleaning,” Kato said innocently.

“You little ass-wipe!” Charlie hurled. He powered a fist forward.

Kato stepped back. His head bobbed to one side effortlessly. Charlie threw another punch - then another. Kato simply jerked to one side then the other. Charlie growled something and threw all his weight into a jab. Kato spun away to the side - and his elbow hammered back and into his kidney.

Charlie coughed out a swear word. He staggered to stop himself from going right onto his face. He reached for the wall, sucking in air and turning.

Sapphire glared. “You think you’re so cool,” she cursed. She raised the gun. Britt gasped and rushed her, grabbing her gun hand in both of his. He flung it up, keeping it pointed at the ceiling. She struggled and cursed at him. He elbowed at her face - she flew back. Her gun was knocked from her hand. She gripped his coat and rammed her knee up into his groin.

He flew over with a howl of pain. Sapphire looked around for her gun. A hand pulled on her shoulder. She turned; Amy’s fist belted her in the face. Caught off-guard she went over backwards. Amy plunged her hand in her hoodie pocket. Sapphire struggled to get up, one hand to her nose to try to staunch blood. Amy whipped out the Taser. She rammed it against Sapphire’s neck and pressed the button.

Sapphire clenched and gurgled something as Amy jumped in surprise. She dropped the Taser in fright; she stepped back.

Sapphire went limp and sank to the floor.

Amy staggered further away from her. She turned and found Britt on the floor. She bent and yanked at his arm. “Get up!” she urged. “We have to get out of here before more cops arrive!”

“I’m trying,” he whimpered. “What it is about women going for the family jewels every goddamn time!”

“It _is_ the quickest way to put a man down so you can run.” She pulled at his arm and he got back to his feet.

He gripped her arm suddenly and hauled her backwards - just as Charlie came flying across the room. He narrowly missed them both to hammer into the floor on his back. He spat swear words. He got his hands out either side of him to push himself up. Kato stepped over broken furniture and insensate police officers toward him.

Charlie scrabbled to his feet. He shook his head to clear it, then stalked closer to Kato, his hands up ready to box.

Kato reached up and took the gas mask from his mouth, shoving it into his pocket. He sniffed, wiped a thumb across his bottom lip, and then turned side-on to him casually. His knees bent as if in slow-motion as his feet shuffled wide. He settled into the relaxed stance. His hands swept up and round in a stretching manoeuvre to bring his right out toward Charlie, his fingers spread, his left closing into a fist nearer to his own face.

And then his right wrist pivoted and beckoned Charlie closer.

Britt grinned. He lifted his clenched fists in excitement. Amy, her eyes wide, clutched her phone. Her heart in her mouth, she watched as Charlie growled something and crept closer to him.

Kato watched. Charlie feinted right but Kato didn’t even flinch. As Charlie pulled back he dropped and whirled. His ankle chopped into Charlie’s knee and he went over, smashing into a table. Kato sprang back up, bouncing easily as he waited.

Charlie grabbed a chair to help him get back up. —And then he lifted it. He hurled it round at Kato.

He ducked. Half of the table smashed into his side. Charlie rushed him. Kato bounced sideways and his fists snapped out into his face, pummelling over and over as if Charlie’s head were a boxing speedball. Britt’s eyes were jerking from side to side as he attempted to keep track of the blows raining into Charlie’s head. Charlie staggered back out of pure momentum. Kato’s next fist swiped sideways. It _whoomf_ ed into Charlie so hard he was twisted through the air to land on his face.

Kato bounced back, watching him closely.

Charlie groaned and put his hands under himself. He climbed to his feet. He lurched forward. Kato slid under his desperate punch; his fist shot into the larger man right under the armpit. Charlie cried out and fell back - but his foot came up and he made a desperate kick toward him.

Kato caught it in his right side. He was pushed face-first into the wall. He bounced back and whipped around. His foot came up. It drove Charlie’s face into the floor again. Charlie coughed and spluttered, spitting blood as he found his horizon and used it to get his hands to the floor.

Kato wiped blood from his own nose, getting some breath back as he glared at him. “Stay down!”

“Screw you!” Charlie heaved.

Britt put an arm out across Amy, guiding her back, careful not to trip on the various bits of broken furniture and fallen men. She shuffled back.

Charlie was back on his feet. He threw himself at Kato. His bigger size engulfed him. It sent them both to the floor with a huge crash.

Amy stretched a hand out. “No!”

Britt pulled her back. “He’s ok.” He paused as the two men struggled and wrenched at each other on the dusty floor. “Ah… dude? You _are_ ok, right?”

Charlie lost his grip on the smaller man. Before he knew it Kato had slithered round. His boots flew up into his chest and the larger man was thrown up and onto his back. “I’ll - kill - _kill you!_ ” Charlie raged. He began to get up.

“Just _stay down_ \- you - you - 抵死的混蛋!”

Charlie drew himself up. He panted in air and turned to Kato with murder in his eyes.

Kato looked at the ceiling, letting out a long, weary sigh. He looked back at him and took a run-up; with a furious shout that echoed round the room he simply leapt and planted his foot in Charlie’s chest.

He flew back into the wall. Plaster and wood splintered around him, almost making a Wile E. Coyote-like impression in the paintwork. And then, slowly, blessedly, he simply tumbled to the floor on his face. He did not move.

Kato stepped back, leaning forward slightly and putting his hand to his right side.

“Dude! You are the shit!” Britt cried excitedly, running over and grabbing his shoulder. “Oh my god you were like _bam_ and _smack_ and _slam!_ ”

Kato lifted his hand from his side to wave at him. “Where’s Amy?”

“She’s safe, man,” he said quickly. He turned and looked across the room at her. “Hey - there, see? Didn’t I tell you we’d fix this!”

She picked her way through the rubble and bodies carefully - then pushed Britt to one side. She pulled on Kato’s coat, turning him round. “Thank you!” she cried, her arms going round him and squeezing.

Kato caught sight of Britt over her shoulder. Britt put both thumbs up, grinning and waggling his eyebrows under his mask.

Amy pulled back, stepping clear. “You know, you’re kinda cute. But my boyfriend is _way_ cuter.” She turned and raced for the exit.

Britt looked from Kato to her and back again - and then scrambled after her. He caught up to her just as she was lifting her phone to get a good landscape shot of the Black Beauty. He pulled the Hornet gun out of his coat and sighed. “Look, lady - you are totally cool, right? But I’ve got to do this,” he said. She turned and he fired straight at her face. The gas enveloped her and she sank immediately. He caught her under the arms, hefting her up and round to the boot of the car. “Dude - little help?”

Kato groaned something under his breath, then made his way over and shuffled him out of the way to take her weight. “Get her feet,” he grumped.

Britt caught at her ankles and they got her round to the back of the car, successfully getting the trunk open and her comfortably inside. They closed the lid, stood back, and blew out identical sighs of relief.

“Ok - _now_ we get them arrested?” Kato offered.

Britt looked around, taking in the unconscious Charlie and Sapphire, the many armed thugs and police littered about the broken chairs, tables, partition walls and cables. He crouched and picked up Amy’s fallen phone. “Well, I think we’ve done as much damage as we possibly can here… Yeah, I think we should let the police clear this shit up.”

Kato nodded and went around the car, finding the driver’s door.

Britt pushed through rubble to get to the rear door, opening it and sliding inside. “Ok… Let’s roll, Kato.”

“Let’s roll,” Kato allowed, starting the engine and reversing the armoured car back out of the hole. It turned gracefully in the open street and, totally unhurried, made its way through the night as if simply enjoying a late-night stroll.

ooOoo

Amy blinked her eyes open, wincing and looking around. She rubbed at her face briskly before struggling to sit up.

Her front room looked back at her with no judgement whatsoever.

She pushed herself up straight, stretching and feeling her neck, peering round the room and trying to work out why she was on the couch. She gasped as the previous night came back to her. Her hands dived into the pockets of her hoodie and she yanked out her phone, unlocking it and whizzing through it. The screen had several long scratches across it, one corner bashed and scraped up. She went to the photos - and found all the videos were gone.

She sagged back into the sofa, closing her eyes and resisting the urge to throw the phone across the room. She looked back at the time on the screen. Finding it nearly eight in the morning, she yawned, her hands going into her hoodie pockets. Something scratched against her left hand and she pulled it out, realising it was a name card. On the front was a stylised, almost wasp-like cartoon character and an email address. She turned it over, frowning.

What appeared to be hurriedly scrawled writing proclaimed: ‘ _Not bad for a junior journo. Keep this up and maybe next time we’ll let you keep some footage_.’

Underneath in curiously neat, spidery script was a further: ‘ _Leave the dangerous stuff to the professionals_.’ Beside it was a black figure-eight on its side, coloured in to the point of only having tiny pin pricks for white holes in the middle of each loop.

A slow, indulgent smile crossed her features and she ran a finger over the drawing. “A little black mask.” She giggled and fell back into the couch, the card pressed to her nose.

She dropped it and her phone to the couch cushion and got up, heading for the kitchen to get coffee.

A sudden buzzing sound made her jump. She looked back and realised her phone had lit up. Frowning, she scooped it up and checked the screen.

‘ _Kato_

_1 message_ ’

She grinned and unlocked it, going to the news.

‘ _Morning. At home again today or feeling better? Movie tonight?_ ’

She giggled, then dropped the phone and punched both hands in the air. “Better? Feeling _better_?” she cried excitedly. “Benedito’s safe - you’re texting me - those assholes must have been arrested last night and I have a shot at getting inside info on the Green Hornet! Damn right I’m better!”

She danced around the front room, fake-boxing the air for a few seconds, giggling. Then she sighed happily, retrieving the phone. She pressed at buttons and heard the line click. She put it to her face as it rang and rang.

“Morning,” said a man’s voice.

“Benedito! Ben-Ben-Benny! You ok?”

“Uh - yeah. I’m just getting up - I promise I won’t be late,” he said, a smile in his voice.

“No that’s fine, I just… Well. Do you want me to come with you to the appointment? Moral support?”

“Ah that’s ok. I mean I have two lovely nurses to look after me, so…”

“They gave you _male_ nurses? That’s just not fair. _I_ never get hot guys when _I’m_ in hospital.”

He laughed down the phone. “Well my health may suck but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view, you know?”

She smiled. “If you need anything you call me. I can be there in like half an hour.”

“Oh come on - it’s routine stuff. You go to work.”

“Work?” she blurted. She shook her head. “I… I think I’ll take the day off.”

“You? A day off?”

“Yeah. Just… take a day to… open my eyes, take a stroll around the good bits of the city. Life moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop to look at it once in a while… you know, like that.”

“Ok, Ferris Bueller. You enjoy your day off. I’ll call you later.”

“Look forward to it. Love you.”

“Love you, Amy.”

She cut the line and then went back to her messages quickly. She found one and pressed the call icon. It rang and rang. “Come on… come on…” Finally it clicked. “Well?” she demanded.

“We got it!” Sean cried. “We totally got all of it!”

“Well thanks for calling the police when you did,” she grinned.

“Oh that wasn’t me, Amy - at least not the first time. I’m sitting there in the office, right, all the lights out, watching this _amazing_ footage - did you see the guy in black? We’re going to have to get the Sentinel to give him a name now - and when the first lot of cops were put down I called it in. They got there after you and the two masked dudes left the frame for good.”

“So we got it?”

“We got it! This is going to be _sensational!_ ” he gushed.

“Good. Just checking.”

“I thought you’d call me like straight after - my phone’s been on all night waiting for you. What happened?”

“That’s a long story.”

“Well no offence but it can’t be as epic as the footage of the cops arriving and literally waking up Sapphire and Charlie to arrest them - you should have seen their faces!”

“I can imagine,” she laughed. “So we got it, right?”

“Yes we did. I checked all of it, made copies, then passed it to the editorial team before the three a.m. deadline. They were working on it for this morning’s edition. Hey - we can take the back-up copy to Mike together. What time are you in?”

“Oh Sean… I’m pretty sure I’m running on fumes here… And I need to get clean, eat something… I’m taking the day off. I’ll square it with HR later.”

“Well you’ve earned it,” he grinned. “Take care.”

“Have fun with the fall-out of the footage.”

“Oh, I really will.”

“Bye Sean.”

“See you.”

She cut the call and blew out a long sigh, rubbing her face. Then she tapped at more buttons and waited for the new call to pick up. Sliding the phone to her ear, she went through the house to the bathroom.

“ _Wei_?” said a voice.

“Morning gorgeous!” she called with a grin. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Uh… just got back from the gym.”

“Oh Kato - one day you have to learn to sleep in.”

“I will if you will.”

She giggled. “Naughty. Ok, you got me - come over tomorrow night and bring pizza. And bring another Chinese movie - that _14 Blades_ was _awesome_.”

“Sure?”

“Very.”

“Well… that’s Saturday.”

“I am aware,” she grinned, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror over the sink.

“Well today is Friday… Want to go to a secret bar tonight?”

“Oooh… a secret bar?” she smiled.

“Only members get in. I am a member. You want to try it?”

“Who else is going?” She pulled pins from her hair, leaving them on the side of the sink.

“Britt Reid and maybe my friend Lenore.”

“Lenore - she’s cool,” she nodded. “Yeah I’m in. What time are you picking me up?” she asked cheekily.

“Eight.”

“Ok - eight it is. Oh, and I have _lots_ to tell you. Last night was _epic_.” She unclipped the barrette holding her hair in a spiral, letting the pony tail fall free.

“Were you working last night?” he asked casually.

“Was I—? Oh Kato - _wait_ will I tell you what happened! I mean I didn’t get close-ups - again - but holy shit it was amazing! You’ll never guess - I met the Green Hornet and his partner - the man with the black mask! He was awesome!”

“What do you mean, awesome?” he asked, a little indignant.

She giggled. “Not as awesome as you, don’t worry. And I told him that to his face. Well, his mask, anyway.”

“You will have to tell me everything. Sounds exciting.”

“It was!” she chuckled. She pulled the band from her pony tail, feeling the roots of her hair protest the sudden relaxation. She hissed and rubbed at her scalp.

“Coffee in the break room? What time?”

“I’m taking today off. I’m way too excited to do boring stuff like be in an office,” she grinned. “Oh hey - would you have time to come over? You can help me set up my new iPhone.”

“You already know how to do that,” he said, but she heard a smile in his voice.

“Yeah but… you’re good at tech stuff. Y’know, in case I forget how to turn on a Mac. And anyway, your boss isn’t going to know you’re not in the workshop doing designs and whatever it is you do, right?”

“Mmm… Maybe I could come over. Are you sure they don’t need you in the office today? Britt said they are all talking about that Green Hornet guy already. Something about arrests and drug dealers.”

“Oh dude - I was _there_ \- I can let other people handle the copy on that today.” She paused. “I wonder why he didn’t take down the cameras in the ceiling. We’ve got it all recorded - I mean how else will the police get a confession out of that Sapphire woman?”

“The what?” Kato blurted. She heard material on the phone for a few seconds, perhaps a muffled voice. He cleared his throat. “There were cameras in the ceiling?”

“Yeah. My colleague Sean put them up a few hours ahead of time. We were hoping to get good film out of it - think of the stills we can use for the paper.”

Silence.

She waited.

Silence.

“Kato? You there?”

“Uh - yeah. Yeah, I’m here. Just… uh… So… you’re ok though, right? Was it dangerous?”

“A little. But I had protection.”

“The police?”

“Not _them_ ,” she grinned. “Ok, I need a shower and you need to do whatever it is you’re doing. Let me know when you’re on your way over so I can get some proper clothes on.”

“You don’t have to do that just for me.”

“Naughty,” she giggled. “Go. Have a good day - call me.”

“Ok.”

The line clicked. She sighed happily and tossed the phone to sit on the lid of the laundry hamper in the corner of the bathroom. She leant closer to the mirror, scrutinising her face. “Oh yeah,” she said dismissively, “he’s definitely cuter than some guy in a mask.”

And then she went about getting a bathrobe and clean towel ready for a long, hot shower.


	21. Chapter 21

Mike Axford stood up behind his desk, his hands out in silent approval as Sean waved a flash drive at him. “This is it? The originals of everything I cleared for the front page and the articles? I haven’t seen the whole thing for myself yet.”

“It’s good stuff,” Sean grinned. “No sound, but we have some exclusive, brilliant footage of everything. Our junior fact-checking journalist is right there - she moves out of shot when the car comes through the wall but we have clear and positive IDs on Sapphire, her right-hand man Charlie, and about three of the armed accomplices.”

“And the Green Hornet? Do we have his face?”

Sean sighed. “Not really. He was wearing a mask over his eyes, and this time a small gas mask too. I think their car was firing gas at the room. The best we got is when the masked accomplice took his gas mask off to fight Charlie.”

“He what?”

“Oh it is compelling viewing - the viewers are going to go _nuts_. We have a regular Bruce Lee on our hands, boss.”

Mike put his hand out for the drive. “Well now we’ve got a real story out of this, it wouldn’t hurt to please the masses and grab some ratings from the other papers.”

“Just what I said,” Sean said proudly. He handed him the drive. “Oh - Amy’s not in today. She’s kind of exhausted from last night - or maybe a bit too jittery to sit still for a while.”

Mike nodded. “She’s got the beginnings of a good journalist, that one.”

“I’ll tell her you said that, sir.”

“Well get back to your desk, Sean. Great work - you and Amy. Tell her you’ve both done really well.” He sat down.

“Oh I will. Thanks, Mr Axford.” He nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him.

Mike looked at the drive in his fingers. He set it down on the desk, leant back in his large chair, and allowed himself a wide smile.

Then he sighed and reached for the desk phone. He picked it up and pressed a button, listening to the line ring. “Hi - June? Yeah, it’s Mike. Ok, let’s do this - bring in Linda and your HR team. Inform the police so they can pick her up when we’re done.” He paused, listening. “No - we’ll go down to the conference room on the bottom floor. I don’t want her paraded through the building, no matter what she’s done. Ok. Thanks.” He put the phone down, stood up slowly, and pulled his shirt straight. “Here we go.”

ooOoo

Lenore unfurled the newspaper, snapping it flat and grinning. “This is great.”

“Yeah but look at the pictures!” Britt gushed, handing her a coffee. “I mean I look totally cool! I’m punching that guy in that one, and elbowing some dude in the next - I look like an action hero!”

She chuckled, accepting the mug and setting it on the table. The morning sun cast welcome warmth on the outside tables and chairs, the sounds of happy birds providing a relaxed soundtrack to breakfast. “It’s really good. And of course Kato looks fantastic. Look at this one!” She turned the paper round and Britt peered at it.

“Yeah, he’s ok,” he shrugged. Then he grinned. “Man it was like epic. And the best bit was, the gas worked - a couple of the guys were down before we even swung into action. And he got that Charlie guy good, man. He was a total dick - and Kato was just better.”

“Where is he, anyway? Have you checked on him?”

“Well we got back here last night - you guys were already gone.”

“We had a _great_ party in your place, thank you,” she grinned. “Everyone really appreciated it and they think I’m now the person who can get them an awesome party place when the owner wants someone to baby-sit.”

“I’m glad you had a good time,” he said.

“So anyway - last night?”

“Yeah - we had Amy with us, gassed. We went through her phone and got rid of everything she shot. We didn’t even know they had like secret cameras filming us but I guess we should have checked.” He shook his head. “ _I_ should have checked. I failed.”

“Hey - it’s fine,” she said. “After all, now it looks like the Green Hornet is taking out his competition so you’re top of the wanted list again. And these _are_ epic shots. Any other gang is going to know what they’re up against now.”

He grinned. “Yeah - yeah, you’re right.”

“So did you get her home?”

“We kept her gassed the whole time - we sneaked back to her place and left her on her couch. Not a mark on her, I swear. I mean a coupla dudes cornered her but Kato took them out, so…” He shrugged. “I think we’re good.”

“And she still has no idea who you two really are?”

“Oh get this,” Britt grinned, leaning toward her across the table, “she said the masked man was cute - but not as cute as her _boyfriend_.”

Lenore giggled, waving him back. “So… what’s the next challenge for the Green Hornet and his amazing unnamed partner?”

“A goddamn drink and a week off,” he said firmly. His phone buzzed on the table repeatedly. “I mean we deserve it, right?” he asked as he picked it up. “I’m serious.” He tapped a thumb at the phone. “Hey partner - what’s up, man? You feeling awesome? Cos you should - you were _totally_ awesome and everyone on the west coast thinks you’re fantastic.” He pulled the phone away from his ear suddenly, frowning. Lenore’s smile faded. “Dude!” Britt called irritably. “Wait - Lenore’s here; I’m putting you on speaker.” He set the phone down, tapping the requisite button.

“—And now everyone will know who we are!” Kato snapped.

“Hey Kato,” Lenore said. “Calm down - is this about the newspapers this morning? Because no-one can see your faces,” she said.

“Oh. Hi Lenore.”

“Hi,” she grinned. “I’m reading the Sentinel now - honestly, Britt’s face is all mask and then gas mask. And you were moving too fast for the camera - if these are the best shots they’ve got of you taking out Charlie then you’re ok. They can’t seem to get your face in focus - just some terrific shots of you beating Charlie to a pulp.”

“Oh. Well…”

“Yeah so just chill, dude,” Britt said gruffly.

“Sorry,” Kato managed. “Amy has already called me - she’s ok. We got all her phone stuff but I didn’t know about the extra cameras they had.”

“Yeah neither did we until we saw this morning’s paper,” Lenore said. “It’s cool, Kato, don’t worry.”

“Oh. Ok. …Sorry.”

“You want breakfast?” Britt asked. “We’re outside man - come over.”

“There’s something I need to do today. But…” He paused. “I know a good bar for tonight. We should go.”

“ _Yes!_ ” Britt hissed in victory. “Lenore - you up for a secret underground bar experience?”

“Uh - yeah,” she blinked in surprise. “And Peony?”

“The more the merrier,” Britt said. “Can we do that, Kato? Is there room?”

“I _make_ room - I’m a member,” he said proudly.

Britt chuckled. “Cool. And Amy’s coming, right?”

“Yes. I will tell you where to meet later, ok?”

“Ok,” Britt grinned. His phone buzzed again. “Oh - got another call. Have fun, dude. Text us the plan.”

“I will.” He cut the call.

Britt peered at the phone screen, choosing carefully to get the new call through and put it back on speaker. “This is Britt Reid.”

“Good morning. This is the office of District Attorney Jennifer Park - are you available to take her call?” said a voice.

Lenore slapped a hand over her mouth. She nodded furiously. Britt cleared his throat. “Yes I am.”

“Thank you - please hold.”

He looked at Lenore, pulling a face of clueless surprise. She pointed at the phone.

“Good morning Mr Reid,” said a familiar voice.

“Ah ah ah - Britt,” he said suavely. “How you doing, DA? We all thought you were dead,” he said, winking theatrically at Lenore.

“Well I’m happy to report that your paper got that wrong.”

“Me too, dude,” Britt nodded. “And honestly, I feel really bad about is getting it so wrong. I mean, we’re a paper, right?”

“No harm done, I don’t think,” Jennifer said. “If anything it seems to have made people appreciate that I’m at least in office.”

“Good. So… what can I do for you?”

“I’ve seen the newspapers this morning - I wanted to congratulate your Sentinel for a fine job of reporting facts without sensationalising crime - and for turning over critical evidence to the police regarding this Sapphire and her corruption ring.”

“Well it’s kind of what we do,” he grinned. Lenore waved a hand, making him look at her. She pressed her palms together quickly. “But thanks, of course. I mean we’re just helping the public good where we can.”

“Hmm,” she replied. “I wonder if you would consider doing more?”

“Like what?” he asked cautiously.

“Would you have any footage that identifies this Green Hornet?”

“Well… I’d have to check with the editors,” he said, looking at Lenore. She put her two palms together as if shaking hands. “But anything we can do to help you unmask this guy? We’re definitely on your side,” he added. Lenore nodded.

“I would appreciate that, Mr Reid,” Jennifer replied.

“Ah ah ah - Britt,” he grinned. “Hey - you ok after your whole not-dead-just-kidnapped ordeal? I mean that must have been rough, right? I can’t imagine how crappy that must have been.”

“I’m back at work.”

“That’s not a ‘yes’,” he pointed out. He snapped his fingers. “You know, you need to unwind more. Me and my friends are going to a bar tonight to let off steam - you should totally come with us!”

Lenore leant back in her chair, her hand over her mouth as she grinned.

“Me?” Jennifer asked.

“Yeah, man!” Britt grinned. “It’s just for fun. No work, no pressure, no deadlines or stress or anything like that - what do you say? Honestly, it’ll totally add five years to your life.”

They heard a quiet chuckling. “Ok. I’ll consider it. I’ll see if I can switch some things around.”

“ _That_ sounds like a yes,” Britt grinned. “I’ll pick you up around eight.”

“That sounds fine, Mr Reid.”

“Ah ah ah—”

“Ok - then that sounds fine, _Britt_.”

He punched the air in silent triumph. “Then I’ll see you later, DA Park.”

“Ah ah ah,” she grinned. “Jennifer.”

The call ended. Britt gave a _woo-hoo_ and held his palm up. Lenore high-fived him and giggled.

ooOoo

The doorbell rang and Amy raced through the house, stopping only to look through the spyhole. She grinned and unlocked it, removed the safety chain, and pulled the door wide open. “Hi.”

Kato waved awkwardly, his helmet still on and what looked like a shoebox in his left hand. “Hi.”

“Well come in then,” she teased, standing back.

He carried the box in, hearing her close the door behind him. “So I brought—”

She turned him to face her and threw her arms round him, squeezing. He blinked, surprised, then just put his free hand to her back. “It’s so good to see you,” she breathed.

“Uh… ok.”

She eased him back, her fingers squeezing his jacket. “Sorry. I’m a bit of a whirlwind this morning. I just… I’ve been thinking about all the things that could have gone wrong last night, how I could have lost… things. People.”

“What people?”

She smiled, undoing his helmet strap and lifting it off his head. “People I care about.”

“Like your brother?”

“Like my brother. And maybe other people, too.” She put a hand up, flicking his hair straight. He winced and hissed, tilting his head away from her hand. Then he froze, his face a picture of alarm. “Sorry - what is it?” she asked, surprised.

“Uh - nothing,” he said, forcing nonchalance where there was underlying panic.

She ruffled his hair back from his temple, finding the white strips still there. “What’s this now? How did you hurt yourself _this_ time?” she sighed.

“Something hit me. While I was working.”

“You need to be more careful,” she said, letting his hair go. “How are your stitches now?”

“I broke one or two. Last night. Got them fixed up though.”

“What were you doing?” she gasped, surprised.

“…Working?” he hazarded.

“Honestly - _men_ ,” she chided, taking his helmet and hanging it on the back of the door. She gestured to his jacket and he pulled it off, revealing a simple t-shirt. She hung the jacket on the door too. “You need to look after yourself, or what’s the point of going to the gym?”

He smiled. “Ok.”

“Don’t you ‘ok’ me, mister,” she said sternly. She walked off toward the kitchen. “You want coffee?”

He grinned, following her, carrying his box. “Yes please.”

“You’re lucky - I went out and bought a machine this morning,” she smiled. “Have you eaten?”

“Yes.”

“Well at least you can do that right.” She opened up a cupboard, looking in for mugs.

“So this thing… last night,” he said gingerly.

She paused and turned, watching him. “Yeah?”

“You were there? You saw everything?”

“I did,” she grinned. “I’m kind of over it, but… still not, if you know what I mean.”

“Yes,” he allowed. He put the box on the counter, then both hands in the back pockets of his black jeans. “Uh… Do you do it a lot?”

“What?”

“The journalist thing in dangerous places?”

She studied his face, noticing all humour had drained away. Coming round the counter, she stopped in front of him, her arms folded. “Sometimes.”

“Can you… not?” he dared, a nervous pinch to his face.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Uh - well. It’s dangerous. So… something could happen to you,” he said, looking past her casually.

She fought a smile. “Are you worried about me?”

He looked at his feet. “ _Yes_.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly. He didn’t look up. “But I’m more worried about _you_. Every time I see you, you have a new wound of some kind. Honestly - you should get danger money for working for Britt Reid. I mean out of the two of us, who’s needed stitches and patching up?”

“Well… I guess the police did keep you safe.”

“It wasn’t the police,” she said with a private smile.

“What does that mean?”

“I think that black mask guy might have a thing for me.”

He frowned. “Oh really,” he said, his voice flat.

She giggled and put a hand to his chest, watching it slide a few inches side to side. “Relax. He’s a wanted criminal and totally not my type.”

“Not at all?”

She looked up at him. “Nope.”

“Then why did you smile when you said he liked you?”

She giggled. “Listen - I’ll do you a deal. I’ll be more careful if you will.”

His eyes flicked up and down her face for a long moment. “Ok.”

“Ok then.” She patted at his chest, then went back round to the cupboard. “What’s in the box?”

“I got you something. We can try it.”

“Kinky.” She forgot the cupboard and came back over, putting her hands out for the box.

He whisked it up quickly, backing away. “You get the coffee and I will set up the table.”

“The table?”

“Coffee,” he said, turning and disappearing.

She grinned and resisted the temptation to follow him. Instead she switched on her Nespresso machine, making sure it had water before feeding it the first disc.

Finally done with two full mugs of coffee, she carried them out to find he was not in the front room. She heard a sound and went through to the small dining room, finding he had cleared the table, carefully stacking her books and magazines at one end. He had moved the chairs so that two were next to each other down one side.

“Where do you want these?” she asked, lifting the mugs for show.

He turned to see her, then looked around, pointing at the chairs. “Uh… we will sit here, so…”

She nodded and put down one mug to grab two coasters from the far end of the table. She put them down within reach of the chairs, setting the coffee down carefully. She sat on the left chair, waiting for him to pick up the box and sit on the other one. She leant over to watch as he opened the lid.

He raised it slowly, then flicked it up and away. “Da na!”

She looked in. Rows and rows of white blocks on a green background were piled inside. She picked one up, looking it over. “Mahjong tiles.”

“Yes,” he said proudly. “These are for you - I can teach you how to play so you will win your online game.”

“You are so thoughtful,” she marvelled, putting the tile down.

“ _Now_ I am thoughtful. But in five minutes I will be your teacher and you will hate me.”

She giggled. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Ask Lenore.”

“Do you teach her Mahjong as well?”

He lifted his hands to wiggle all of his fingers at her. “Piano.”

She laughed. “There is no limit to your talents, is there?”

“Uh… I cannot swim. And my bowling and English is bad.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t mean…” She looked at his hands as he emptied the box.

“It’s ok,” he shrugged. Then he sat more upright, his left hand going out as if displaying something in his palm. His right went to his chest, ready to recite a speech. He lifted his chin. “If I am good at everything, everyone will hate me,” he blustered.

She giggled, slapping his hand down. “Set up the game, Teacher.”

He grinned and tipped all the tiles out on the table. But she got up suddenly, waving him back from the table. He slid his chair back a tiny way and she poked at his knee. Clueless, he just moved it wider, watching as she sat down on his chair right in front of him. He shuffled back on the seat to give her more room, and she got comfortable.

“That’s better,” she said, feeling him lean into her back to reach for the tiles, his arms having to come round her sides. His chin came over her shoulder to see better and she grinned. “I think I’m going to like this game.”

ooOoo

Britt stepped out of the cab, turning and offering an elbow back inside. “M’lady,” he grinned.

Jennifer Park wrapped her fingers round his elbow, using it as leverage to help get out of the car. She straightened up and smiled at him, closing the door behind her. “You know,” she said as they put a safe distance between them and the kerb, “I’m beginning to understand what you mean about needing down-time.”

“Give it a week and you’ll actually _relax_ when you’re not DA’ing people all day,” he teased.

They heard a car behind them and turned to see another cab pull up. Amy climbed out of the back first, then Kato.

“Right on time,” Britt announced.

Amy turned and grinned, waving and bouncing over. “Hi!”

“Ah - we’ve met, haven’t we?” Jennifer smiled. “Amy, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, DA Park,” she said, as Kato caught her up and nodded to the DA.

“And Mr Kato. And as I’m off the clock and learning to leave the office behind me, it’s Jennifer,” she smiled.

“Well then, Jennifer - this sounds like it’s going to be a good evening,” Amy said.

“And… here’s the rest of our party,” Britt said, watching another cab pull up at the kerb. The door opened and Lenore and Peony emerged, straightening their dresses and grinning madly at each other before they realised they had an audience. They came over and Lenore put a hand out.

“DA Park - hello again - hi Amy,” she grinned. “This is my niece, Peony. She’s a med student,” she said.

“A good one. —Um - from what I hear,” Britt nodded. “This city needs more med students like her.”

“Thanks,” Peony said with a smile. “Maybe DA Park can help us change some funding rules, and then it might actually happen.”

Lenore elbowed her but Jennifer grinned. “Well it’s not my department, but I _do_ have to have lunch with several hospital administrators next week, so who knows what we might discuss off the record,” she said.

“So dude,” Britt said, looking at Kato. “Where’s this secret place?”

“If you could find it, it would not be a secret,” Kato winked. He went to turn and Amy reached over and took his hand, waving to Lenore and Peony as they began talking to Jennifer.

Kato led Amy in front, and Lenore and Peony fell into step behind them, Jennifer keeping a hold on Britt’s arm as they made their way down the street.

After just a minute Kato was slowing down, turning Amy to look at a very nondescript building set some ten feet back from the pavement where iron railings stopped the casual passer-by from reaching the wooden door. A tall, angular woman of Chinese descent was watching them, her long dark purple coat giving nothing away.

“Hey, Louise,” Kato said, opening the gate and guiding Amy in first. The others queued up behind him as he paused Amy in front of the woman.

“K _Ger_ ,” she smiled, putting a fist out. “好久不見.”

“我很忙.” He bumped her fist. She opened it and they slapped palms, before reversing the manoeuvre to slap the backs of their fingers together. They snapped their fingers at the same time and she chuckled.

“Six, is it?” She picked up a mic from her coat collar, speaking into it.

“Six,” he nodded.

“Whoa - even a secret handshake,” Britt breathed. Jennifer chuckled as Lenore and Peony rolled their eyes. He caught their reaction from the corner of his eye. “Hey - I can be enthusiastic, ok?” he said defensively.

“He can - he really can,” Kato said ruefully.

Louise stepped back and swung the wooden door inwards. “You can go in. Specials are on the board.”

“謝謝.” He put a hand to Amy’s back, urging her in front of him. She stepped through the door and the rest of them followed. Inside was a dull, metal corridor affair with a door at the end. Kato went up to the door and knocked. They heard bolts and movement, and then it swung back.

“Hey - K _Ger_ ,” a short woman said, looking him up and down. “And who is this? Girlfriend?” she teased.

Kato glanced at Amy. “Yes.”

“Really?” the woman chuckled. “Well now I’ve seen everything,” she added, ignoring the way his face went bright red. “Come on in, kid - bring your friends. First round on the house - I’ll tell the bar, ok?” She pressed a mic at her t-shirt collar, speaking into it at speed and definitely not English.

Amy lent closer to whisper at him. “How does everyone know you?”

“I come here a lot, when I can,” he shrugged.

“And he fixed the brakes on my Vespa,” the woman nodded.

Amy blinked. “It’s like you have this secret double life at night.”

Kato cleared his throat.

The woman on the door moved to one side, her hand out. “Come on, in you go. Mind your step, miss.”

Amy smiled and let herself be led through the doorway, then found it turned left. Everyone filed after her, nodding to the woman, who waited and then closed the door behind them all.

The party made it about ten feet before they had to stop and stare around.

The place appeared to be huge - a rectangle with a low ceiling and every single wall completely covered in what looked like album covers or film posters - all in Chinese. A few glass frames stood out, showcasing 1950s and 60s beer brands from China or Thailand. The only source of light was the collection of neons, spelling out either famous brand names of American beers or Chinese street names. The air was warm but clear, smelling faintly of clean, fresh watermelon in a way that made Amy’s shoulders relax.

A horseshoe bar was in the middle with two traps to let employees in and out. Bottles were clamped upside down around the inside edge, full of varying colours of spirits, not a single one sporting a label. Other parts of the bar had miniature triangles made up of beer cans, the labels all in Chinese with intriguing pictures on.

Music was playing over the steady hum of voices talking, bottles clinking, stools scraping and people laughing. Amy tilted her head to listen, still staring round and falling in love with the slightly pink glow of the room, caused by the neons.

“What’s that music?” she asked, close to Kato’s ear.

He listened for a moment, his head falling into the beat. “Dwagie,” he said. “Taiwan rap.”

“It’s awesome,” she breathed, patting his arm. “Do we sit?”

He turned and looked behind him. “I take you to my favourite table,” he grinned, waving them all to follow.

Lenore managed to close her mouth, nudging Peony to do the same, and they grinned before following him through the busy bar to a long table at the back, one of its ends against the wall. It appeared empty, and Kato went around the back to squeeze behind the surface, seating himself on the long comfy cushion against another wall. Amy pushed herself in next to him, Peony taking up the last place. Lenore took the top end of the table imperiously, and Britt waited for Jennifer to sit herself down before he got in after her.

“Dude this place is _awesome_ ,” Britt grinned across the table. “I can’t believe I’ve never been here!”

“It’s beautiful,” Peony said, looking up at the ceiling and seeing it was entirely wallpapered with advertisements from the 1950s onwards in Chinese. “I mean… It’s just amazing.”

“This is my favourite of the secret bars,” Kato said.

“You mean there are _more_?” Britt gasped. “Well then we have to visit every one.”

“Not all in one night,” Lenore said quickly. “Some of us have to work tomorrow.”

“Yes we do,” Jennifer grinned. “So… what are your drink recommendations?”

Kato thought for a moment. “You like beer or spirits?”

“Yes,” Jennifer said, deadpan.

“Aaah - see?” Britt grinned, waving a finger at her. “I knew you’d loosen up sooner or later.”

“Well being around you certainly makes it easier to eschew all professional etiquette.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he chuckled.

“So - Lenore? Peony? Amy?” Kato asked. “Preferences?”

“Liquor,” Peony nodded. “The stronger the better. I’ve done two sixteen-hour shifts in two days and I need liquid soothers.”

Lenore nodded. “Well then I’ll have the same.”

“Amy?” he asked.

“Uh… I’ll try anything,” she shrugged. “The same.”

“Britt?”

He grinned. “Whatever you think is best, dude.”

Kato raised a hand to snap his fingers in the air, then cupped it round his mouth and shouted something in Chinese. A voice floated back over the music and he called back. He sat back, his hands out to indicate the room. “You like?”

“Me _likey_ ,” Britt chuckled. “Come on, be honest - anyone _not_ loving this place right now?”

Jennifer grinned, patting his arm. “Just wait until we’ve tried the drinks, ok?”

He nodded. “Now - I have _one_ work question for you - which you can refuse to answer if you like - and then we don’t talk any more shop.”

“What’s that?” she asked suspiciously.

“Well… we all know you arrested tonnes of people in the wee hours of this morning,” he said slowly. “And you know that _we_ know that some of that evidence came from the Daily Sentinel, so… Come on, give. Who was the police informant that Sapphire had, tipping her off when things were going to go south?”

Jennifer hissed, shaking her head. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

“But have they been arrested too?” Lenore asked.

Jennifer nodded very deliberately. “You know I can’t tell you that, either.”

Lenore giggled, waving a hand at her. “Then I’m sure we’ll all just imagine the answer to that one.”

“So I have one question for you newspaper people - sorry Peony,” Jennifer said. “Apparently there was a mole at the paper, passing information to Sapphire, too. Have you found who it is?”

Britt sighed, his face turning sad. “That is a very serious allegation, DA Park, and we at the Sentinel are not even going to respond to the accusation that someone in our organisation _may_ have had the _opportunity_ to _possibly_ have had access to stuff, and that they _might_ have _thought about_ giving that information - illegally - to a criminal element of the city.”

Jennifer just raised her eyebrows at him.

Britt grinned. “Mainly because Mike Axford found her and canned her this morning - _after_ he called the police on her.”

She laughed and Peony put her hands up for quiet. “Wait - you guys have like incredible lives. I just sew idiots up for a living.”

“The idiots you sew up are very glad that you do,” Kato said, eyeing her. “—I mean, they must be. You are a very important person to them.”

She smiled shyly, and Lenore covered her grin. “If you say so,” Peony managed.

“We _all_ do,” Jennifer said. “You provide essential services and we’re indebted to you for your hard work.”

“Just like you’re indebted to your college loan,” Britt chuckled. “Oh hey - screw it. I’ll get that paid off for you in the morning.”

“What?” Peony gasped. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve just this second opened the James Reid Scholarship Fund for Awesome Med Students,” he announced. “Dad would be proud, right?” he asked Kato.

He nodded with a smile. “Yes - I think he would.”

“You… really?” Peony asked, her eyes goggling at Britt.

“Lenore - make me do it first thing tomorrow when I get in the office. Put it on the list,” Britt said.

“Done,” Lenore smiled.

Peony gaped at him. “Just… like that?”

“Hey everyone!” came a voice from behind Britt and Jennifer.

They turned to see a woman with a large round metal tray, already lifting a beer can that was frosted up on the outside. The top had been sliced clean off, the edges folded in safely. Inside was a third of a can of crushed ice, a green-cum-turquoise drink, and a slice of lemon on the edge. A paper straw was stuck right down the middle of the ice. “Here we go - Green Hornets for everyone.”

“Green Hornet? Whaaaat?” Britt grinned in excitement.

“It’s our best seller this week. Just don’t ask what’s in it,” she winked, placing one in front of everyone. “All good here? You want snacks?”

“Not yet,” Jennifer said, looking around. “Shall we order later?” She got nods all round and turned to look up at the woman. “Thanks.”

“Well there’s no rush - kitchen is open till three a.m. Enjoy,” she smiled. She turned, carrying the tray back to the bar.

Britt picked up his can, grinning like a small boy. “Green Hornets. _Man_ this is cool.”

Everyone picked up their drinks. “What do we drink to?” Lenore asked.

“A night off,” Peony chuckled. Jennifer nodded, raising her glass.

“Sapphire getting arrested,” Lenore said firmly.

Kato snapped his fingers, then looked at Britt. “The Green Hornet.”

“Why?” Amy grinned.

“Because… otherwise we would not be in this bar,” Kato said.

“How do you figure?” Jennifer asked, interested.

“He had a war with Sapphire - that made Jennifer start a new team to catch him - and ask for Britt’s help. So he invited you here tonight,” he said. “Amy got the footage to help the newspaper get evidence on him. Lenore arranged the party where he kidnapped Jennifer.”

“And me?” Peony asked.

“Well you—.” Kato stopped, his face a picture of speechlessness.

“You must have dealt with all the injuries from party guests, and the cops, at every one of his bust-ups,” Britt said casually. “So yeah, we’re all here because of the Green Hornet.”

“ _And_ the man in the black mask,” Amy put in. “Don’t forget him. He’s pretty cool, you know.”

“How cool?” Kato asked, turning round in his seat to face her.

She elbowed him with a grin. “Not like _you’re_ cool. I just think… he doesn’t seem to be all bad. I mean he stopped me from getting hurt last night, loads of times.”

“Doesn’t mean he’s on your side,” Jennifer warned. “Those two men are armed - and even when they’re not they’re still _very_ dangerous. —Especially your favourite in the black mask.”

Amy giggled. “Well then.” She lifted her can and everyone else did too. “To the Green Hornet and the man in black. I hope they keep taking down rival drug runners.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Jennifer said. “Although one day - and one day soon - we will arrest them both. Then we _unmask_ them and put them away for criminal damage and murder.”

“Sounds fair,” Britt said with a grin. He looked at Kato.

He shrugged and lifted his can higher. “To the Green Hornet.”

They touched their cans together and then sipped through straws.

—And then they coughed and laughed, finding it packed more of a punch than they had expected.

“Oh my - that’s really good - and strong!” Amy croaked, waving air at her face.

“If you think that’s strong,” the waitress called over, “you should try the Black Mask. That will _absolutely_ kick your ass.”

Kato burst out laughing.

And after barely a second, so did everyone else.

**FIN**


End file.
